From Fenton to Phantom
by RyJones
Summary: A terrible accident. It was never supposed to end like this. Though Danny has passed away, he hasn't moved on. Only Clockwork can help him find the reasons why. With the help of his friends, only Danny will be able to find himself and finally rest in peace...Unless he was never meant to die in the first place. Rated M for Language/Violence/Dark Themes/Romance/Lemons. Read & Review.
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

Hello everyone! My fanfic author name is RyJones. I am best known for my Jak and Daxter fanfic series _**Me, The Legendary Hero**_. This is my favorite video game series and I have been blown away by the response the fandom of my fanfic has brought me!

Jak and Daxter are not my only favorite heroes, though. Danny Phantom was my all-time favorite cartoon and I looked up to his character as a role model during my pre-teen to teen years. Now a college graduate, I still look back on Danny Phantom fondly and chose to branch out and write some fanfics for him as well. I had started one when I was young, but removed it when I reread it and realized how mediocre it was. I have really developed my writing over the years, thanks to my Jak and Daxter series, and now I can provide the Danny "Phans" with a worthy story of my own.

So, here's to new beginnings, new chapters in life, and here's to all the Danny Phantom fans out there. I present to you: **_From Fenton to Phantom_**.

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I could've been flying. I know I _should've_ been flying away from them...or maybe I could've turned intangible or invisible. Anything to just get the hell away.

But I couldn't. The pain was _unbearable_. I wasn't thinking straight. I was getting _so_ tired...my blood, human blood, was draining from my chest and my ears, all over my black and white HAZMAT jumpsuit. I gripped my chest, warm liquid spilling through my fingertips; I was gasping and panting with every heavy step. The road ahead of me was blurry and I was getting tunnel vision...and the sheer pain I had originally felt when the plasma bullets hit me was beginning to subside.

 _That's not a good sign, Danny_. My conscience screamed. _Keep running!_

"STOP, GHOST!" I heard my father yelling after me, "You have nowhere left to run!"

I felt horrible about all of this...the only reason my parents, Jack and Maddie, were chasing after me is because I- Danny Phantom, the one that _always_ got away from them- didn't yet die at their hand from the first two plasma shots. If I had just stayed out of their way while they fought off those easily containable ghosts...or if they had just stayed out of _mine_...

"You're done, phantom!" My mother screamed after me. Their steps were getting closer, my parents were gaining on me. I gritted my teeth and kept going, despite the fact that I was quickly losing energy. I just needed some help; a few stitches and some bandages maybe from the basement should keep me alive, at least until I could get in touch with Sam and Tucker.

I could see my house down the street, so close, and I almost felt relief. My heartbeat was drumming loud in my ears and head, and I so desperately needed to just get through that front door.

"He's headed for Fenton Works, Jack!" Mom yelled, "Shoot _now_!"

My white boots pounded up the front steps and I reached for the handle. My father typically had poor aim, and at first I wasn't worried...until I felt painful electric zaps vibrate through my spine. I accidentally phased through the front door and toppled onto my stomach. I yelped in pain and dragged myself across the floor in the direction of the basement door. Everything seemed dimmer and it was getting difficult to see and hear...and ironically, the song "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed was playing repeatedly in my head.

I phased through the basement door and slid myself down the stairs. _Hello, darkness, my old friend_...I reached the bottom of the stairs and rolled onto my back, groaning from the excruciating sting that burned my entire body, my glowing green eyes rolling into the back of my skull. _Come on Danny, get up, GET UP!_

I heard thudding around upstairs. I turned back onto my front side. _My parents_...I coughed, spitting clotted, black blood onto the linoleum floor. I let my cheek rest on the cool ground and stared at the ghost portal, which was swirling with green and violet, it's power a dull hum buzzing in my ears. It was the only thing I could hear over my slow, thudding heartbeat. _Silence like a cancer grows_...the song played in my head. I reached up to one of the lab tables weakly, then allowed my arm to flop back down to my side, two glowing white rings forming around me. _Fuck_...I transformed back into my human form. I was suddenly very aware that I wouldn't be able to fix myself up and fly away before they came down and found me.

"I can't let them see me like this..." I whined quietly, trying to motivate myself to change back or crawl into the ghost portal. My body flashed between human and phantom repeatedly, but I couldn't keep my ghost side stable. I didn't care about fixing my wounds anymore...I didn't care about running away before my parents would find out the truth about me...

I just didn't want them to know they had killed their own son.

The basement door slammed open. "Quick, Maddie! The ghost must be in our basement!" My dad's voice echoed down the stairs.

I stared at the ghost portal through my jet black hair, which was matted to my forehead with sweat. "No..." I moaned, louder than I'd intended to. I pulled at the floor, trying to hurry towards the open ghost portal. The world around me was darkening. It had not yet hit me that this was my last act of life, the last chance I'd get to make sure my parents would never know the mistakes that were made, my mistakes and theirs. And it had not yet hit me that I was really going to die. _If I could just make it through the portal, I could disappear into the Ghost Zone and they'd never have to know_...

"OH MY GOD, _JACK_!"

My mother's panicked voice startled me, and I changed into ghost form and back again. It was too late...they'd seen me. But I kept going towards the portal, scrambling as the last bit of my vision faded from my eyes...I was still too far away. And they'd seen me...I just didn't want to look at them and see the torment in their eyes.

"Danny!" My father ran to my side, his bright orange jumpsuit the only thing I could really see now. "How..?!" He rolled me onto my back, his hand supporting the back of my head. My mother, sobbing beside him, yelled "What have we done, Jack?!"

I coughed again, blood spattering my lips. I closed my eyes, allowing the darkness to take me. But before it did, I made sure my last, hoarse words would count.

"I'm...so...sorry."

And then, I was swallowed by the alleviating black.

To my surprise and not more than a second after I had died, I was standing at the bottom of the basement stairs. I looked down at my white boots and jumpsuit, no longer stained with my blood. I touched my chest, where bullet holes had previously entered me, and the suit was still intact. I looked at my white gloved hands, clean and pristine, not worn and torn from all the battles in my life. I felt no pain, I felt light as air. I then looked down at the floor, which was covered in a smeared trail of my blood, leading to a scene of despair unveiling itself before me.

My mother and my father, weeping over my lifeless, twenty-one year old body...my breath hitched in my throat, and my hand instinctively went to my chest. The tears in my beautiful mother's eyes, and the anguish in my father's face as he clutched my body to him caused hopelessness to wash over me. If I had only been able to get into the portal, I would've died in the Ghost Zone, out of their sight. They would've never known I had died at their hand. They would never have needed to feel any of this...

I was overcome with grief, even though I was the one leaving my loved ones behind. But I had to come to terms with the fact that that my parents would've eventually felt the heartbreak of my absence. Whether they'd thought I'd ran away or started a new life away from Amity Park...they would've felt _something_. I just wished that it didn't have to be this way...

My hand curled into a fist at my chest and as I inhaled deeply, I felt individual tears slide down my cheeks. I tore my eyes away from the sorrowful sight of my parents' suffering. To my right, I looked at my reflection in the shiny exterior of the Fenton ecto-skeleton suit, and to my surprise, my eyes were still ice blue, like my father's, vibrant as ever. Just as they had been when I was a living, breathing human. I ran a hand through my white hair and turned toward the stairs.

 _ **Danny...**_

I stopped on the first step. Someone had whispered my name...I could swear it. I waited a moment.

 ** _Danny...it's time..._**

I turned back to the basement, staring at the ghost portal at the far end of the room behind my grieving parents. Suddenly, a warm, comforting tingle flooded through my body all the way to my fingertips and toes. A blinding white light was hindering my sight and the warmth was overpowering all my senses. Though I was confused and wary, I didn't feel afraid.

I relaxed, closed my eyes, and I allowed my spirit to fade away.

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 **A/N:**

For song reference and a feel for what was going through Danny's mind, here is the link of "The Sound of Silence" remake by Disturbed.

As always, subscribe, read, review, PM me, let me know what you think.

On to the next chapter! Stay tuned.

 _-RyJones_


	2. I'm Still Me

**A/N:**

The response for this original one-shot, one-chapter fanfic was awesome, so I'm giving the people what they want: a story out of it. I'm back with Chapter One for you all!

This fanfic is much darker than my others (though most of my stories are typically dark) and I usually put my stories in first-person P.O.V so that the reader can feel exactly what the character is feeling.

Without further ado... Chapter One.

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"Daniel James Fenton. For once...I'm surprised to see you here."

My eyes snapped open at the sound of a familiar voice. I stared up at a ceiling, which was covered in gears and pulleys that rotated and grinded above me. I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes, and looked up at an old friend of mine. He took the form of a middle-aged man, his skin a pale blue and eyes maroon, one of them sporting a dark scar. He had a mysterious smile planted on his face.

"Clockwork," I said, my brain swirling with confusion. _Why am I here?_ "I'm surprised to see me here, too..."

He reached his hand down to me and I grabbed it as he helped pull me to my feet. I brushed myself off. "How did I get here?"

Clockwork adjusted his purple cloak hood. "You know how I always say that everything is the way it's supposed to be?" I nodded, and he fiddled with his staff uncomfortably, "I fear that the space-time continuum has found a loophole in this fact."

I swallowed hard. I didn't think I'd end up in the Ghost Zone after I had died, in fact it was the _last_ place I imagined myself. I thought I had earned my place in the...better place, for lack of a better word. "Clockwork...I don't understand."

"I know everything," He said, less like a statement and more like he was questioning it. He walked over to his time portal, which was subtly swirling with colors. He sighed. "I have chronokinesis, I can manipulate time and see it from all angles. But for the first time in my existence...I did not _see_ this. Not once, not ever."

I approached him, "I passed away. I shouldn't be _here_ of all places."

Clockwork turned to me, his body morphing into that of an elderly man. "You've passed away, but it seems that you have not passed _on_."

I crossed my arms, "Why not? What do I need to do to get there? Why am I _here?_ " I was frustrated...I had become at peace with dying the moment I knew that it was coming. I felt in my heart that it was time to let go, though I wish it had never ended in that particular way, the worst possible way imaginable.

Clockwork faded into the body of a child. "I've seen your death, boy. All paths of it, every possible way it may and will happen. _This was not it!_ " He frowned angrily, clearly annoyed at the fact that something was out of his control. "I'm going to need to discuss things with the Observants. Something clearly isn't right..."

My heart skipped a beat. I had never been afraid of the unknown, I'd always welcomed it and being someone who adored space and wanted to be an astronaut, I was positive towards diving straight _into_ it. But for the first time in my life...I _was_ afraid of it.

Clockwork reverted back to a middle-aged state, and his face appeared pained. "For now there is only one thing that you can do, if you do in fact want to pass on. As cliché as it sounds, when a being dies and they have unfinished business, they are sent to the Ghost Zone. They remain here until their spirit is at rest, and it is then they decide whether to stay or pass on."

My shoulders hunched as I tried to understand what he was telling me. "You mean like Purgatory." I stated rather than asked, not intending to sound disappointed.

"Quite like that." He placed a hand on my shoulder, "There are things you must take care of before you make that decision. That is all I know regarding why your spirit was sent to the Ghost Zone." His hand dropped to his side and his fists clenched, "As for your sudden death, though...it's all wrong. This is _all wrong_ , Daniel. And I am going to figure out what happened." He turned back to his time portal, "Everything is _not_ how it should be."

"How long have I been here?" I asked, "In human time, I mean. Can you show me what's happening back home?"

He waved his arm over the portal, the colors swirling faster. "Of course. I can do anything. But, it has been over a week for them since your passing, though its only been minutes for you. Are you sure you want to see?"

Frankly, and a bit selfishly, I really _didn't_ want to see. I didn't want to experience the emotional pain I was trying so hard to push away. I knew it would be harder for me to move on if I _did_ see them. But, deep down, I felt that I needed to, I _had_ to know everyone was going to be okay and live on. If they weren't, then I would need to find away to help them do so. I was stuck in the Ghost Zone, after all.

"Yes." I said, quieter than I meant to, "Please, Clockwork."

"I'll make it so." The portal colors swirled and brightened until finally, a picture formed on the screen.

It was my big sister, Jazz, and her husband Dean. They were sitting on the couch in her apartment, her red-haired head resting on Dean's shoulder. She rubbed her plump, six month-old baby bump, eyes glossy but not a tear escaped. My eyes squinted and I tried to keep a straight, emotionless face and be strong through this montage of loved ones I would be seeing.

"I want to name him Danny," Jazz practically whispered. "Dean, we _have_ to name him Danny."

My unborn nephew and godson...I would never have a chance to meet him. And now they wanted to _name_ him after me? "Jazz," I said, mentally trying to convince her not to do that. It would only cause her more pain and every time she would see my nephew, she'd see me. And I didn't want that for her, or for him.

Dean wrapped his lean, muscular arms around Jazz protectively. I respected him and he really was like a brother to me; he had known my secret since he and Jazz begun dating, when I was around eighteen years old. He was cool, and he'd even asked me to be a groomsman in their wedding. I trusted that he'd take care of her.

"Jazz, why don't we discuss it with your parents first? Closer to when the time comes." He said, answering my prayers of convincing Jazz to not name their child after me. "I think it's a good idea, but how do you think they'll feel, when they were the reason your brother..." He paused, his dark brown eyes staring ahead (unintentionally right at Clockwork and I) and he shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. "How do you think _you'll_ feel?"

Jazz's chin jutted out and she looked down at her hands. "I don't know what I feel."

"You're not allowing yourself to feel, Jasmine." Dean stroked her face, but she pulled away.

"Please don't use psychiatry on me," She frowned at him, "I'm not one of your patients."

"But you are my wife, the mother of my child, and if you're not okay, then I am definitely not okay."

Jazz leaned into Dean and rested her face in his chest. In a muffled voice, she said, "I'm just not ready to believe it yet...I'm not ready to believe that he is really gone."

I wrinkled my nose, feeling my gut twist in anxiety, "Someone else, please." I said behind Clockwork. He grunted and waved his hand over the portal again. This time, he revealed my parents.

My ghost heart pounded in my chest. I stepped back, "I don't want to see them."

Clockwork looked over his shoulder at me, lifting an eyebrow. "How do you expect to be granted access to the other side if you don't want to face your past, face you're whole life?" He crossed his arms, looking back at the screen, "You said you wanted this. It's all or nothing."

I chewed on my bottom lip. He was right, as he always was. I stepped forward again and forced my eyes to look at the screen. It revealed to me my mother and father occupying my bedroom. My dad was leaning against the window in my room, rain pattering against it. My mother was sitting on the edge of my bed, clutching one of my white and red teeshirts to her cheek.

"I should've known," Mom groaned into the shirt, "I should've _known_..."

"It was my shot, Maddie," Dad was muttering, "I pulled the trigger that last time. We couldn't have known..."

My mother sobbed, "He didn't get to finish college with his friends. He didn't even get to start his own family. He was only twenty-one, he was still my baby..." She inhaled the shirt shakily, then her hands fell to her lap. "I can't bury him, Jack! _I can't bury my own son!_ "

My hands flew to my mouth. I wasn't sure why. Their pain made me feel sick with guilt, my whole body was shaking. "I don't want to see this anymore, Clockwork."

He didn't answer. He just kept watching and I was forced to watch with him.

On the screen, my father went to the bedside and knelt next to my mother, looking so large next to her small figure. "Maddie, no parent should ever have to bury their own child. No parent should _ever_ outlive their child..." His voice cracked, "I will live the rest of my life knowing it was all my fault. I will live the rest of my life wishing I was dead instead of him." He put his hands on her knees and rested his graying head on his knuckles. "I will pay for this for the rest of my life...but Danny's last words-"

"-He was apologizing..." My mom interrupted, grabbing my shirt and rising to her feet. Dad stood with her and she pressed my shirt to her chest. "He was apologizing for our mistake, Jack."

"He wasn't apologizing for that, sweetheart," Dad grabbed her shoulders, "He was apologizing for not being honest with us- something he should never have needed to apologize for- and he said those words so we wouldn't feel this guilt. Of course there's nothing that could've prevented that..."

"He..." My mother hiccuped, tears streaming over her cheekbones, "He _forgave_ us."

"I feel that he did, Maddie."

My parents embraced, crying into each others arms. My mother suddenly leaned back, looking straight at my father's chest. "But I don't think _I_ can forgive us."

My father looked taken aback. "He wouldn't want-"

"-How do you know what he would or wouldn't want, Jack?" She pushed against his chest and faced my bed, "He hid an entire identity from us. He couldn't _trust_ us enough not to _hurt_ him," her voice broke on the word "hurt" and she sucked in a breath, "You shot our son _dead_ , Jack."

"Maddie, I wanted to end my own life when I realized what we'd done-"

"-What _you_ did, Jack, _you_ pulled the trigger-"

"-You _told_ me to shoot, Maddie, we are equally at fault here-"

"-Don't _touch_ me, Jack, you _murdered_ my son!"

I let out a wail. " _Clockwork!_ " I couldn't watch this of all things, I couldn't watch my parents destroy themselves over a stupid, _stupid_ mistake, over a simple accident. "No more!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

He waved his hand over the portal, and once again it swirled in that spiral of colors. "You know there's at least one more. You must see these things, Danny."

I pinched the bridge between my eyes. "One more. I can't deal with it anymore."

"Can't deal with what, Danny? Their pain, or your guilt?"

I looked up at him, his question burning through me like acid. "Both." I responded coldly. I wasn't going to lie about the feelings I was trying so desperately to avoid.

"Hmph." Clockwork huffed in satisfaction. The screen cleared and revealed to me what I needed to see.

Sam Manson, my best friend and the girl I had loved for so many years, sat on the bathroom floor of her mother's bedroom, her head resting on the porcelain toilet. Her mother, Pamela Manson, who often dressed and acted pretentiously, was out of character wearing a purple bathrobe and no makeup, her strawberry blonde hair in a messy bun. She was sitting on a gold vanity chair, and petting her daughter's soft, long black hair, which was pulled back in a low pony-tail.

"I think I'm done." Sam said hoarsely, closing her indigo eyes. Her voice pierced my soul, the sound of it slicing memories through my mind. "I haven't eaten in weeks, there's nothing left in me."

Mrs. Manson's face was twisted in distress. I could tell she really felt for Sam, despite plenty of years being unable to connect with her on a personal level. They'd grown closer since we'd all started college, and I could tell she wanted to be here for her daughter. She crossed her legs, one slippered foot crossing over the other. "Sammy, you can't... _expel_ the pain away."

Sam sat up and leaned on her mother's leg. "I'm just letting it out."

"This isn't healthy. You've been so sick..." She petted Sam's hair again.

"I just..." Sam sighed, her eyes cracking open slightly, "My body just doesn't know how to react, I guess."

Mrs. Manson then leaned down and kissed Sam's head. "Sam...you're body doesn't need to know how to react. _You_ need to react. You aren't allowing yourself to really feel what has happened."

Sam's pale, lower lip quivered. It broke my heart to see her so sick, so sad. I wished so badly that I could just tell her I was sorry. I wished I could've told everyone how sorry I was...

"I didn't get to say goodbye." A single tear slid out of her eyes as she responded to my exact thoughts. "I didn't get a chance to say goodbye."

"Honey," Pamela said, pity displaying on her face, "No one ever really gets a chance to say goodbye. You remember how you were when Grandma Ida died...you loved that woman. She understood you better than I did at times." Pamela frowned sadly. "You're father never had a chance to say goodbye before his mother had passed away. This is kind of like that. And everyone deals with grief differently."

Sam breathed heavily, more droplets spilling from her beautiful eyes. I couldn't look away, as much as I didn't want to see her, my Sam, in so much pain. She wiped her eyes, "I feel so...numb...I am sad but I just can't..." Her breath hitched, and she leaned over the toilet again, squeezing her eyes shut. I turned my head away, trying to ignore the sound of her getting sick. I couldn't handle it.

Once she had quieted, I looked back at the screen and saw that she was hugging her knees to her chest, eyes wide and so bright against her pale skin. I heard myself whimper unexpectedly. I quickly realized I was feeling everything she was feeling...she may have lost me but I lost her too.

I loved her so much.

There was a knock on Pamela's bathroom door. "It's me." I straightened up as I heard Tucker's voice, and so did Sam's mother.

"Tucker, we'll be right out, dear!" Mrs. Manson stood, pulling Sam up with her. "My darling, you're best friend is here. You are in shock, I know." She brushed a black strand from her daughter's eye, wrapping it behind her ear, "But he also lost someone he loved...he needs you too." She planted a kiss on Sam's forehead, "Go brush your teeth, then I'll send him in."

Sam's lids were heavy as she nodded in agreement. Her mother turned and headed for the door, giving one last look of both sorrow and affection toward her child, before cracking the door open and sliding through, shutting it behind her.

Sam went to the sink, turned on the gold faucet and prepped a toothbrush. She began scrubbing her teeth, locking eyes with her own reflection. I could tell she couldn't recognize herself...it was hard to picture the Sam I loved when she looked so...so _lifeless_. Guilt was washing over me again and again and I saw Clockwork look at me. He didn't say anything.

Once Sam had finished, she put the toothbrush away and walked over to the bathroom door. The second she pulled it open, my dearest, best friend since forever, Tucker Foley, flung his arms around Sam's neck, his vibrant green eyes wide.

"Sam!" He said, "I was so worried."

She hid her face in his yellow shirt and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I haven't been dealing with it well, Tuck."

"I know, I knew you'd answer my texts when you were ready to." He turned his head into her hair. "Have you bathed? You don't smell like it." He tried to crack a joke...my typical best friend.

Sam rolled her swollen eyes and pulled back to look at him. "You look like shit, too."

Tucker smiled briefly, then sighed. He had dark circles under his eyes, so prominent on his dark skin that he himself looked like a ghost. "I haven't slept since I heard."

"Me neither." Sam murmured. "I can't eat. I get sick every day."

"I don't know how to handle any of it." Tucker went over to the sink and sat himself onto it. His long legs almost touched the ground, and he removed his red beret, squeezing it in his hands. "I can't keep thinking...what are we supposed to do now?"

Sam sat on the floor by the toilet. "I don't know, Tucker."

"I can't stop thinking about his parents, Sam." He shook his head incredulously, "I know how we feel but...I can't imagine how they feel."

Sam bolted upright then and dry heaved into the porcelain. Tucker immediately hopped down from the sink and went to her side, muttering its okay and holding her hair back until she finished. She wiped her mouth, though nothing was there.

Tucker pulled her into his lap. "You need to eat soon..."

Sam suddenly broke then, releasing a cry that stabbed at me repeatedly. My mouth parted and I put my hand against the screen. "Sam..." I whispered.

She sobbed into my best friend's neck. "It's not the fact that he is dead that makes me sick," She moaned, "It's that I can't stop picturing him, I can't stop imagining his parents discovering his lifeless, bloody body-"

"I am _done!_ " I covered my ears, squeezed my eyes shut and turned away from the screen, "Make it stop, Clockwork!"

The voices ceased as Clockwork controlled the portal. I faced him, but my knees wobbled and I had to rest my hands on them to keep myself steady.

After a minute, he spoke. "You see, Danny...unfinished business."

I straightened up and rolled my shoulders, trying to compose myself before I, too, broke. "I didn't know how much this would kill them."

"It isn't you're fault, Daniel. You didn't _want_ to die." Clockwork tapped his staff into his opposite hand, "And you were not _supposed_ to die."

I crossed my arms, avoiding his curious gaze. I knew that if I wanted to move on...I had to help them move on as well. "Am I able to leave the Ghost Zone?"

Clockwork smirked, clearly amused, "I knew you'd make the right decisions. I always know." He aimed his staff at the turning gears above us and with a quick, clear-blue zap from the staff, he forced them to halt. "You are a ghost just like the rest of us. You are able to come and go as you please. I've stopped time so that you get back to the human world at the correct time, to the moments you were watching on the screen."

I sighed shakily. I wasn't sure if this was what I wanted. I wasn't sure of anything anymore...I'd thought while I was dying, that my last breath would be taken and that I'd go to the place in the sky. I thought it was a simple as that.

I thought the hardest part was over.

But, I had to go...for their sake and my own. "Will they be able to see me?" I asked, "Can I interact with them? Will I be able to touch them and speak to them?"

Clockwork chuckled, which bothered me for a brief second. "Of course you will and of course they'll see and feel you, boy." We locked eyes and he smiled sadly. "You have been human and you have been a ghost, and both sides of you were seen, heard and felt." He came up to me and he said sternly, "Danny...you're still _you_."

His words found their way into my heart. _I'm still me_. This fueled me. This is what I needed to know to really confirm my choice to make things right. "I'm still me." I repeated, making everything all the more real.

Clockwork nodded. "Go to them. Help them deal. This has been a great tragedy for them, their biggest loss. They need you." He then transformed into his elderly self, waved his hand over the portal to activate it and it glowed neon-green. "I will do my best to find out more about this break in the space-time continuum. This baffles me, and it affects me as much as it affects you."

I inhaled and exhaled slowly, puffing my chest out, mentally preparing myself for this quest. The white "D" logo Sam had attached to the front of my jumpsuit all those years ago was twinkling, the light from the portal reflecting off of it. I knew this was the right thing to do. A part of me, however, needed to know one thing before I took off...

"Clockwork?" I asked cautiously, and the old spirit looked at me, "Am I able to come back here?" His face looked confused so I clarified, "I mean, I don't have a home to return to right now, so..."

"Ah," Clockwork smiled, "Yes, child. What's mine is yours. This can be your home." He gestured at the citadel and I thanked him. "Now go, Danny Fenton. There is much work to be done."

I leapt up and took flight, my legs molding together into a fading tail as I stretched and floated through the glowing portal, leaving the Ghost Zone.

My heart was thudding hard. It was so normal, this feeling, but so strange considering I was unsure if ghosts could "feel" normal body reactions the way the living did. But I kept my fists out in front of me, flying through the swirls of neon green toward a white light in the distance. I wasn't sure where it would bring me, but I now knew for sure that I was ready.

I was still me, after all.

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 **A/N:**

I know this chapter was heavy. It took a lot of thinking to write it, and a lot of typing to make it perfect. I hope it was worth the read, and I will update soon.

 _RyJones_


	3. Too Late Now

**A/N:**

I've just returned from a trip to Europe, so don't fret, I haven't abandoned you! Hopefully there will be plenty of opportunities for me to write often, but if not, please know that I am not someone who leaves a story incomplete: I will _**ALWAYS**_ finish a fanfiction.

On to Chapter Two.

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Night had fallen. I was sitting atop the roof of my old alma mater, Casper High School. I couldn't remember why, or how, I turned up here. I tried to push away the idea that significance of my past was coming into play, that my high school held a certain place in my heart even though I had moved on to bigger and better things. Why else would I have ended up on the roof of my school?

Out of sheer curiosity, I phased through the roof and through several floors, entering the building. My mind told me to check it out, that there was no rush. Not for a dead man. My white-booted feet thudded onto the floor and I observed my surroundings. The walls were still yellow-green, with similar colored lockers to match. Or was it beige? I could never really tell what color the walls were, nor had I paid much attention when I attended school here. The florescent lights above were illuminated and making a humming sound, a stray student wearing thick-framed glasses bustled past me; I guess some people were staying after school tonight.

I saw a janitor down the hall, the same gray-mustached one that mopped the floors when I went here, dusting off an old trophy case. I roamed down the hall toward him, in the direction of the classroom my old teacher, Mr. Lancer, resided. I wondered if he's still here, too.

As I neared the classroom, the janitor stopped whistling and wiping and turned in my direction. I halted immediately. I could swear he was looking straight at me, gray eyes wide. I hesitated, considering asking out loud if he could see me. But then he turned to his cleaning cart, threw the rag and cleaning spray into the bucket, and rolled it around the corner disappearing from sight.

I let out a breath I wasn't aware I held, and looked down at myself. I wasn't invisible, but perhaps I had to make my presence known to get a living person to actually see me. It wasn't like ghosts _always_ reared their afterlife heads. I remember I wouldn't even be aware of their presence until I hiccuped and a blue, wispy puff of air would escape my lips, like breath on a cold winter night- this was my ghost sense.

I wondered if I even had that anymore, now that I was dead.

I padded quietly down the way towards Lancer's classroom. Phasing through the door, I saw my old teacher sitting at his desk at the head of the room. In place of a chalkboard behind him was one of those new-age computer projector screens that imitated chalkboards. The desks were all bigger and new, and even Lancer had a slim, sleek looking laptop sitting in front of him. The man himself didn't change much, other than his black goatee now a salt-and-pepper gray, and age displaying in circles under his eyes.

I walked over to him, peering over his shoulder at the computer screen. It seemed he was reading the news, and immediately I realized my curiosity was a mistake.

The headline read "Local Man Killed at His Own Father's Hand in Freak Accident ". A photo of twenty-one year old me, waving at the photographer while I was working on a robot in a lab at Amity Park University. I had been studying engineering so I could one day work in aeronautics and airspace. My stomach clenched as I thought about how challenging and rewarding studying at APU had been the past couple of years...and how it was all over.

My face wrinkled as I tried to swallow my emotions, and when I was about to leave I saw Lancer scroll down, continuing reading the story. Another photo was there, this time of my parents and Jazz around Sam, Tucker and I on our CHS graduation day. We had are arms over each other's shoulders and we were laughing about something... _what were we laughing about?_ I couldn't remember...maybe we were just happy to start the next chapter of our lives. That was probably it.

"What a shame," Mr. Lancer mumbled, shaking his bald head, "Such a damn _shame_." His voice shook as he said the last word. He then reached down and opened one of the drawers in his desk. I leaned closer to see what he was grabbing, and he pulled out a stapled packet. I squinted, trying to read what was on the front page. My name was at the top, and the paper was dated to when I was a freshman in high school. The title page read "What Matters The Most" by Danny Fenton.

"I remember that," I muttered aloud, folding my arms across my chest, "You made me write that in place of the test I bombed when I fell asleep in class." My face softened, "You gave me an A...you kept it all this time?"

Lancer flipped to the first page, sighing. His eyes shifted back and forth as he read, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He skimmed the rest and turned to the last page.

"Ah, here it is." Lancer's voice startled me. "Fenton, you weren't the most involved in your studies, nor were you my quietest student-"

"Hey!" I frowned.

"-But you did teach me a thing or two about myself."

"Hmm?" I blinked at my bald teacher, shaking my head. _I taught_ ** _him_** _something_...?

He grabbed his glasses off the desk and slipped them on, holding the paper up in front of himself, "In this essay you talked about your family, friends, what you were passionate about...you said what was important to you personally. But the one thing that has stuck with me all these years, and the part that got you that A, was when you said this..." He brought the paper closer to his face, "You said 'In the end, who cares what you were when you were younger? It's who you grew into that makes you who you are'."

I smirked. I remembered writing that. Lancer chuckled, closing his eyes, and slipped the essay back into his desk. "You had really made something of yourself, Fenton. No matter who pushed you down, no matter who tried to discourage you, or tried to convince you that you couldn't do something...you always came out of it proving them wrong."

He shut the desk drawer and rose to his feet. Gathering his briefcase and some papers off of his desk, he sighed. "Truly inspiring."

That was my cue to leave. I headed for the door, stopping a few feet away from it, and turned my head to look back at my teacher. "Thanks for teaching me things, and putting up with my shit, Mr. Lancer." I breathed, then turned to phase through the door...

...And thudded right against a desk.

Lancer looked up, beady eyes wide, clutching his chest. "Wuthering _Heights!_ " He exclaimed, looking around frantically. I froze in place, until I realized he couldn't see me; I'd _definitely_ scared the hell out of him. I awkwardly waved at him and phased through the door back into the hallway.

I ran a hand through my white hair and paced. "Where do I go from here?" I asked myself quietly. I was certain I didn't want to face my parents. I was far from ready, that was for sure. And I wasn't sure how long it'd be before I was. But I needed to pick someone who wouldn't freak out when I revealed myself...I needed someone who would show support, someone who would understand what I'm going through...

 _Sam_.

I knew the answer before her name even crossed my thoughts.

I shot up through the floors of my high school and burst into the night air, hovering above the roof. It was cool out, I think. I couldn't really tell. There was a breeze, but I wasn't shivering. It felt nice outside. The moon was full and as beautiful as ever, and the sky was clear and quiet. I inhaled deeply, wishing I was alive to really embrace the world. It's not like I took advantage of life and living...but I definitely felt like I could have appreciated it more.

I shook my head. _No time to feel sorry for yourself_. I turned in the direction of Sam's home, and flew onward, fists out in front of me.

"Man, I love flying." I murmured to myself. Flying was always the best part of having ghost powers. There were tons of perks, there had always been perks...but nothing, _nothing_ beat flying in the sky, feeling free and invincible. I closed my eyes, tasting the air as I rushed through it. Now that I was fully a ghost, I could fly all I wanted. I smiled at the thought.

The word "Invisobil" suddenly whisked through my mind and I laughed out loud. "Invisobil...what was _wrong_ with people?" I laughed again. Couldn't they have come up with something, _anything_ , better?

I rotated in the air, flying on my back, staring up at the stars. Sam had always teased me about "Invisobil". She was always brutally honest when it came to my "superhero" image- she made sure my HAZMAT suit didn't have my father's face on it and replaced it with the patch she'd designed just for me. A cool "D" with a letter "P" within it. And when people were calling me "Invisobil", she instantly hated how lame it was.

I shook my head, rotating again and picking up speed. I couldn't wait to see her.

But as I neared her building, I started feeling nervous. What was she going to say when she saw me? What should _I_ say? What would she think or do? _Maybe I should've thought this through...too late now_ , I thought as I floated up to her window. The red velvet curtains were drawn and moonlight spilt into her bedroom. I pressed my palms against the glass, pushing gently, but it wouldn't budge.

I put my hands on my hips and thought for a moment, before realizing, stupidly, that I was a ghost. I was always _at least_ half ghost. I phased through stuff all the time. And here I was, a full-ghost, trying to figure out how to open a locked window.

I mentally slapped myself and phased into Sam's room.

She was asleep, tangled up in black bed sheets, her long black hair in a disarray. I smiled, but a dull ache was appearing in my chest, a miserable, yearning ache. I landed on my feet and quietly went over to her bed, sitting down next to her sleeping form. Her face was calm, her eyes shifting slightly behind her eyelids; she was dreaming. I moved closer and touched her soft cheek with the back of my gloved hand. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, I was eager to wake her up, but I wasn't sure how to do it without frightening her.

I settled for just gently coaxing her out of dreamland. I bent forward, pressing my lips to her exposed ear. "Sam," I whispered. Her hair smelt of her go-to shampoo, some kind of lavender-spring scent that was always intoxicating. She smelt like home. I inhaled and closed my eyes, "Sammy..." I whispered again. She sleepily rolled over, toward me, her hand falling into my lap. She stirred and made a quiet, sleepy noise, but her eyes remained shut. I ran my fingers through her hair and sighed. I still didn't know what I would say when she finally opened her eyes.

I loved her _so_ damn much, for _so_ _long_ , and I'd never actually said the words before. But neither did she. We'd kissed, we'd gone on dates, we went to prom together. We had never made it "official" or anything, but only because we were having so much fun just being...ourselves. Not to mention the fact that we all were _really_ involved with college once we'd started at APU. Sam, Tucker and I were always the "three stooges", the "three musketeers". They were, _are_ , my best friends in the universe. And Sam and I just liked to keep things the way they were, where we were comfortable, and no words were necessary to express how we felt. We just _knew_ how the other felt.

I knew she loved me even though she never said it, because she always showed me. Through supporting my life decisions, and all my dedication to aeronautics, to ghost hunting with me and always knowing what to say to make me feel better when I was down. She knew me better than I knew myself. And even though we'd never made a real relationship out of it, we were satisfied with the way things were...with being comfortable.

I knew it was too late now, but I was _not_ satisfied with just "comfortable" anymore.

I grabbed Sam's hand and squeezed, bending forward again and brushing my lips across her cheek. "Sam, wake up for me, please." I begged softly, no longer whispering.

Her mouth frowned slightly and her eyes cracked open. She stretched and rubbed her eye with her free hand, trying to blink her eyes into focus. The only light in her room was from the moon, so she sat up abruptly and leaned over to turn the lamp on her nightstand on.

The lamp illuminated her room and it's brightness made me blink in surprise. She gasped and when my eyes adjusted, I saw that her wide, violet eyes were _bloodshot to_ hell. She was covering her mouth with both her hands, her sheet-covered knees tucked to her chest. I blinked again, my mind fumbling to say something.

"You..." Sam spoke first. Her voice was hoarse and her eyes watered. "You...you can't _be_ here!"

I inched closer to her but she backed herself against her headboard. I stopped, feeling hurt but empathizing with her shock. "It's me, I _am_ here. I needed to see you-"

"You're dead." She whispered. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. "You're dead, you're dead, this is a dream, it's not real, you died-"

I grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face. Her eyes were still squeezed shut and she was shaking her head, muttering that I wasn't "real" over and over again. Frustration rose in my throat, and I pulled her towards me by her wrists.

" _Sam_." I said sternly, "Stop, I'm really here, okay? Yes, I...died, but I'm really, truly _here_."

She popped one bloodshot eye open and peeked at me, her violet iris vibrant. Her head turned toward me then and she stared into my blue eyes skeptically, her nose an inch away from mine.

"You can't be here." She said again, her eyes looking down, her bottom lip quivering. I loosened my grip on her wrists, putting my hands on the sides of her face so she wouldn't pull away.

"Look at me, Sam, please look at me." I pleaded as her eyes closed again, "Look me in the eyes and you'll know it's really me and it's not a dream."

She exhaled shakily and her eyes lifted. Her eyebrows furred and a sad smile crossed her face, "It has to be a dream. You're eyes are so blue."

Her words confused me, but I nodded, "It's not a dream, as much as I wish it was. But yes, it seems I got to 'keep' my human eyes when I...left."

"It's not a dream," Sam repeated, trying to confirm it. "How are you here, Danny?"

Sam saying my name cut through my soul like glass. I closed the gap between us and gently, briskly kissed her plump pink lips. It was short and soft, but I didn't want to cause her anymore distress or confusion than I already had. I pulled away and dropped my hands to my lap.

"When I left my body, I was pulled into the Ghost Zone," I began. "I ended up at Clockwork's place and he basically told me something in the space-time continuum got fucked up somehow, that I wasn't supposed to die this way or this soon. He's currently trying to figure it all out and see what went wrong. But in the meantime, if I want to have the choice to...move on, I need to take care of unfinished business." I rubbed my forehead. "The Ghost Zone is kind of like Purgatory, he said. So I'm stuck until I can find some closure, make peace with what I'm leaving behind."

"So you can't stay." She said, turning her head to the window. "You're here to...what? Say goodbye?" She crossed her arms, eyes watering, her chin jutting out in the way it always did when she was pissed. "This past week, I had received the worst news in my life. The worst thing that could have ever happened to me, to you, to _everyone_ , happened. My _whole world_ -" Her breath hitched in her throat and she looked up at the ceiling. I wanted to reach for her, but felt it was best not to. "-My whole world fell apart and I will never be the same. And now you, and the universe's 'rules', expect me to say goodbye to you forever? It's not..fair."

"If I choose to stay in the Ghost Zone and not move on, you can see me as much as you want," I convinced myself more than her, "I can be there for you whenever you need me. Think of me as a guardian angel." I flashed my best smile at her and wiggled my eyebrows.

She smirked, but it fell quickly into a frown. "That's sweet...but I could never, ever ask you to trap yourself in _hell_ for my own selfish reasons. I want you to go where you are meant to go, be an angel where you were meant to be the day you passed away. You deserve to go where the other heroes go." Two single tears ran over her cheek bones and she briskly wiped them away. "I should be more angry with myself, you know..."

I tilted my head. "Angry with yourself? Why?"

Sam got up out of bed, running her hands through her long, black, shiny locks. She paced her room, crossing her arms over her chest, her back facing me as she stopped in front of the window. "I kept saying, thinking, every day that I never had a chance to say goodbye." She turned to me and smiled, "Guess I got my damn wish, didn't I?"

I noticed something about what she was wearing...she was in a t-shirt- _only_ a t-shirt- too big for her small form. It fell past her thighs, and it was a dark blue color with colorful planets and tiny white stars dotting all over it.

I lifted my eyebrow, "You're sleeping in my 'I need my space' t-shirt." My statement sounded more surprised than I'd intended it to.

She blinked twice, looked down at the shirt, then back up at me. "Tucker has been going through your things, since your parents have been..." She trailed off, glancing off to the side. "Tucker just wanted to hold onto your stuff for you." She looked down at my shirt, "He thought I would want to have some of your shirts so I could keep you close, you know?" Color rose to her cheeks.

I got to my feet and went over to her. She was staring at the floor and I swept her into a hug, smiling into her hair. I breathed in, smelling that lavender scent again. She slowly wrapped her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. Her shoulders began to shake.

"I'm so sorry, Sam, I'm _so_ sorry I didn't make it." I said quietly, staring out the window behind her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help you. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to save _you_ , like you saved me." She sobbed into my jumpsuit, and I clutched her to me, petting her hair.

This was killing me. I'd died before getting a chance to see where a relationship could take us. I'd never know what it would be like to really be _with_ Sam and that was a crushing blow. But the best thing I could do to give us both closure would be to tell her how I felt, all those years to this day. It would be the best way I could say goodbye.

I pulled back and she looked up at me with swollen eyes. I moved my right hand to cup her neck and I kissed her forehead. Looking into her heart-aching eyes, I finally said it.

"I love you, Sam. I've always loved you and I always will." My ghost heart was beating hard in my chest, "I know I should've said it when we were kids or at senior prom, or I should've told you at graduation or at _any_ time in my fucking life really." I felt a tug in my chest, but held back my own tears. I had to show her I was strong. "I know you've always known deep down that I love you. And I am _so damn sorry_ I never said anything or did anything about it. But I'm telling you now so you'll never have to question whether I loved you or not. I love you so much."

To my dismay, she pushed against my chest and glared at me. "Don't." She said. I stood with my arms open, a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. She wiped her tears and put her hands out in front of her. "Don't _do_ this to me."

I shook my head incredulously, "Don't to what, Sam? _Love_ you?"

"That!" She snarled. "Don't tell me you love me now that you're _gone_!" She stepped away from me, her hands folding over her chest, as if her heart were going to fall right out of it. The sight of her anger destroyed me.

I didn't move. "But you need to know before I-"

"-Before you disappear from my life forever?" She cut in, "That's how you expect to solve your 'unfinished business' problem? By telling me something we can't do anything about?" Sam's eyes filled to the brim. "It's too late for you to say these things!"

"It's not too late, Sam," I protested, "Isn't it going to feel better to know how I've always felt about you?" As I said the words, I was starting to realize what she was saying to me. I had no argument...I hadn't thought this through at all.

"How am I supposed to _move on_ now, Danny?!" She sobbed, gripping her chest, "How am I supposed to move on with my life, or meet someone and live happily ever after now?" She groaned. "How am I supposed to _go on without you_?"

I was speechless. I had no answer to that question. I had made the mistake of thinking telling her the truth would give her closure. I had made the mistake of assuming she could move on with her life now that she knew how I'd always felt. I had made many mistakes in my life, and it seemed that even in death, I'd make mistakes too.

In a way, this was worse than dying.

The flames in Sam's purple eyes faded. I couldn't look away from the fury in her irises. Eventually she relaxed and inhaled sharply.

"You can't be here." She said for the third and final time that night. This time I felt that she meant it. I was no longer welcome. I stepped toward her cautiously, trying to hide the pain in my face. I just wanted to have her in my arms again. But she put a hand on my chest to stop me, and looked away. "Please, Danny." She whispered.

I understood. It was time for me to leave.

I sighed heavily, my hands balling into fists. I turned to the window and looked back at Sam, beautiful Sam, who was avoiding my gaze. I knew how she felt. I just wished I could've had the guts to do all this sooner. She was right, though...it was too late now.

I phased through the window and peered one last time through it at the girl I loved. She covered her face again, and fell to her knees. My soul ached to hold her, I longed to tell her I love her again and again...

I took off into the night sky, feeling exhausted with a need to return to Clockwork's tower. Did ghosts sleep? I guess I'd find out soon.

I felt a gravitational pull in the direction I needed to go. I flew faster, at lightning speed, until I tore a hole in this dimension that revealed the Ghost Zone. Had I always been able to do that? Transport myself between the ghost world and human world without a portal...

I shot directly into it, and the rip closed behind me, leaving no trace of my spirit ever entering Amity Park.

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 **A/N:**

Sorry for the long wait, but I hope it was worth it! Will update as soon as I can. I still have world travels up ahead, but that only feeds my need to write and create.

Keep reading!

 _~RyJones_


	4. Redemption

**A/N:**

It's been a few weeks but I'm here with a fresh new chapter for you. Side-note: Butch Hartman recently drew Danny, Sam and Tucker ten years older. Very cool, very Butch. Support his channels, he loves his Phans dearly!

On with the story...

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I didn't really sleep. Maybe I did...I might've slept and dreamed, but it didn't feel like I did.

I had returned to Clockwork's tower after seeing Sam, and he showed me to a room I could crash in. There was a couch so I took residence on it. For hours I sat there awake, but I relived almost every moment of my life. Really- from my childhood to my most recent talk with Sam, I sat there on that couch, just visualizing my _whole_ life. Like I was sleeping and having a dream. But I totally wasn't.

I didn't snap out of it until Clockwork came into the room and said my name. I asked him if it was morning, but then I remembered that the Ghost Zone has no concept of time. There was no morning, noon or night. No twilight or dawn or dusk. Only one perpetual moment.

He didn't make me feel stupid about it or anything. He just smiled at me. It was empty, but reassuring.

"What is your plan for the day, Daniel?" He asked me, gesturing for us to exit the room.

I scratched the back of my hair, grimacing. "I'm not really sure. Last night didn't really go all that well."

He placed his hand on my shoulder and guided me to his main room, "I'm sure you said all you could. You don't get closure through someone else...you have to get closure within yourself."

I rolled my eyes at him. "That's nearly impossible. I don't feel good about the 'closure' from last night."

He shrugged. "Not my problem, now is it?"

Sometimes, I felt like Clockwork was my friend. And sometimes, I felt like Clockwork was _not_.

He brought me over to his portal. "Who are we visiting today?"

The portal swirled green and blue and I stared into it, wishing it would tell _me_ who I was visiting, not the other way around. "Jazz and Dean, maybe? Not sure." I ran my hands through my white hair and sighed. "I don't want the sight of me causing Jazz to go into premature labor."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Stop stalling, Daniel." He waved his hand over the portal and revealed an image of Jazz setting up a dark wood crib for the baby. A lump formed in my throat and I nodded at Clockwork, who was now in elderly form.

"Just Jazz, it appears," he said, giving me a gentle push forward toward the now swirling with green portal, "Maybe it would be best to have one-on-one time with your sister, hmm?"

I bounced off the floor and leapt through the vortex without another word. My fists out in front of me, I flew straight and fast toward the light that would bring me to my sister. As my hands, arms, body broke through and I landed in the living room of her apartment, I heard a voice I wasn't expecting...

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"I do NOT have time for this, Boxy!" Jazz's voice floated from down the hall and I floated towards it. "Those boxes are supposed to be used for the trash after I'm done with this _godforsaken crib!_ "

The sound of a Fenton thermos. Then a long huff of breath.

I peered into what's supposed to be the baby's room. The walls were a pale, blue-gray with yellow trim on the ceiling, which they'd painted prior to finding out the gender. Yellow and gray accents filled the room- a perfect combination for a unisex nursery. Jazz was on the floor, the Fenton thermos in one hand, directions for the crib in the other, and a stuffed elephant in her lap, perhaps for moral support. She was surrounded by some pieces of dark mahogany, the crib nearly finished, but it was on its side. I crossed my arms and couldn't help smiling at the sight.

I stepped into the room. "It would probably help if you weren't reading the _Spanish_ side of the directions, Jazz."

Her head whipped around, ponytail snapping in the air. "DANNY?!" She sprung to her feet- 'sprung' meaning practically rolled herself until her pregnant form could stand.

I put my hands up cautiously as I entered the room. "It's not what you think...I'm here, but not really."

She clutched the elephant to her chest, her green eyes brimming with tears. "Okay." She squeaked. "This...this is just one of the five stages of grief...I really thought I got _passed_ denial." She held her forehead, "Is hallucinating one of the five stages of grief?"

"Jazz, you're not hallucinating," I practically groaned. "I am...dead. I died."

"You're here as a ghost then?" She whispered almost inaudibly. "Danny that's...that's so _sad_." Her voice cracked on "sad" and she waddled over to me, throwing her arms around my neck and sobbing.

 _Finally someone who understands._ "Yeah, I'm a little bit stuck." I rubbed her back. "Really _fucking_ stuck. I'm supposed to be cleaning up messes I left behind so I can move...forward."

She pulled back, her bottom lip tucked into her upper. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and backed up. "So...you're basically here just to...say goodbye?" She rubbed her baby bump.

I nodded slowly. "Yes...I think so." I couldn't swallow that lump in my throat. But I wasn't going to cry in front of Jazz. I wanted her and everyone to know this was all okay and I was ready for the other side.

Even though I wasn't.

She pursed her lips. "Well...then..." She gestured to the crib on the floor. "You want to help me finish your nephew's crib?"

My face broke into a grin. "I would be more than happy to." I knew I could rely on her to make me feel better about the situation.

I got to work on the crib, lifting things with my ghost ray that were too far to reach and screwing in unfinished parts. Too soon I was finished with the product and able to properly stand it up.

Jazz sat on the rocking chair while I stood over the crib. I pictured a tiny baby, my nephew, laying in there looking at a mobile. I wondered if, once I went to the other side, I would be able to watch over him and the others. Babies can see ghosts, so maybe he _would_ get to know his uncle Danny. Even if only for a small period of time in his life. I smiled at the thought.

Jazz rocked the chair back and forth. "Have you seen mom and dad yet?"

My smile fell. "I'm not ready for that yet."

I heard her sigh. "I have forgiven them for what they did to you, but only because I saw what this did to _them_."

I turned around and leaned my back on the crib. "It's not that I can't forgive them, Jazz. I just don't know how I feel about facing them, having to talk things out and explain all the lies and secrets I kept to protect them." I rubbed my forehead and let out an exasperated breath. "They won't forgive themselves and I'm not ready to see that. Especially because it will only remind me that there will be a day where I _really am_ gone from this world. It will remind me of everything _I've_ lost."

Jazz's lip quivered. "I'm so sorry, Danny. I know this is hard on us...but I can't even _imagine_ what you're going through."

I chewed my bottom lip and swallowed that lump. "I'm really trying to be at peace with what has happened. I am really trying to be okay with the fact that I died...that I'll never get to graduate college, or build rockets or meet my nephew, or start a family of my own." I turned back to the crib, gripping the sides of it until my knuckles cramped. "I'll never get to grow old and pass away knowing I _really_ lived."

The two of us sat on this for a bit. The only sound audible was the creaking of the rocking chair, back and forth, back and forth. It soothed me a bit; no wonder babies passed out in the arms of their mothers in rocking chairs.

Jazz broke the silence. "I want to name him after you, but Dean thinks it's a bad idea."

I turned my head and looked at her sadly. "Dean's a smart guy." I stepped over to my sister and knelt beside the rocking chair. "I wouldn't want my nephew to be the constant reminder of your brother being murdered."

She flinched when I said the word "murdered" and leaned her head against the chair. "But I want him to have a part of you with him always."

I nodded. I understood exactly why she wanted this. But some parts of it just seemed morbid. He would ask what happened to uncle Danny and have to carry my name and that burden with him wherever he went. Forever.

I put my hand over Jazz's on her baby bump. "What about naming him James?" I smiled up at her reassuringly. "Name him after grandpa and give him my middle name as his first name. That way he carries a part of me and gramps together."

She blinked and tilted her head. "James Fenton-Teller?" She smirked a tiny smile. "It flows perfectly...but his middle name was going to be Jack. After dad."

"So call him JJ for short," I shrugged. "Or name his middle name after mom."

"James Madeline Fenton-Teller?" She squinted her eyes at me skeptically, "Too close to James _Madison_ , I don't want to name him after a dead President!"

"No, no!" I rolled my eyes at her. "Not mom's _whole_ name. James _Matty_ Fenton-Teller. Not M-a-d-d-i-e. Or stick with James Jack. Whichever."

"I love the idea of naming him James." Jazz reached down to me and cupped my cheek. "He already feels like a 'James'. It's very sentimental. Thank you, Danny."

I stood up and kissed her on the forehead. I felt that it may be time to leave...a pull in my chest that told me it really was time to say goodbye. "Listen Jazz..."

"I know." She said quietly. She was smiling still but tears were welling in her eyes. "You have to go now."

I bobbed my head up and down slowly and shuffled my feet. "I just want you to know...you are the best sister anyone could ever have. You always took care of me and you were always there when I needed you. And you're going to be such a great mom to James."

She gestured for me to help her out of the chair and I pulled her to her feet. She placed her hand on my cheek again, her thumb grazing beneath my eye. "I love you, little brother." She whispered.

I closed my eyes and leaned into her hand. "I love you too, Jazz." I couldn't stay any longer. The inner tug on my chest was urging me to leave right then. I turned invisible under her hand, then sunk through the floor intangibly. Once I passed out of her apartment, I flew outside of the building and thrust my body into hyper-speed. Faster and faster through the clear blue skies I flew until I tore a portal into the Ghost Zone, disappearing from the world yet again.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I checked in with Clockwork and updated him on how my visit with Jazz went. He didn't have much to say, typically. But he helped send me to my next stop: my best friend forever, even in the next life...Tucker Foley.

Since the concept of time doesn't apply in the Ghost Zone, I arrived at Tuck's very late at night, well-past midnight. Lucky for me, Tucker was- is- someone who stays up until four a.m. on his laptop or playing video games or texting his girlfriend, and my fellow ghost-hunting friend, Valerie Gray. I didn't have to worry about scaring him or waking him up because I knew he'd be there for me.

I flew towards his window, which were blocked by curtains, a glowing slit indicating he had the television on. I tapped on the window lightly at first, but when he didn't answer, I then knocked on it in a specific beat, a pattern we used to use when I flew over his place to hang out.

I waited. The curtains pulled back, revealing Tucker's aqua eyes staring directly into mine. I gave a small smile and waved. He cracked the window open and grabbed my arm, and I yelped as he yank me into his bedroom.

"Hey!" I stumbled and caught myself once I landed on the floor. I spun around to scold him, but then his arms were around me, squeezing the undead life out of me.

"Oh man!" He said loudly, "I was hoping you would come!" He grabbed my shoulders and pulled back to give me a once-over. "I mean, I didn't want to believe you were still here obviously, especially since I'm sure you'd rather go to the clouds in the sky-"

"-You aren't surprised to see me?" I interrupted.

"Sam called me the other day." He still gripped my shoulders, his smile faltering, "She told me you...stopped by."

Though my blood wasn't pumping, I felt it rush to my face."Yeah, that didn't go too well."

"You should've said you loved her _before_ you died, dumbass." Tucker slapped the side of my head.

I frowned and rubbed the spot. "I know, I know."

Tucker moved to sit down on his couch in front of the television. "I wasn't shocked when she called, though. I knew you'd come back."

I unintentionally made a face, my nose wrinkling in guilt. "Tucker, I'm not back-"

"-I know that," He rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses, "I meant I knew you weren't _gone_. Not yet, at least. I felt it." He paused and glanced at the TV. "I felt a lot of things."

I nodded. "I've been staying with Clockwork all this time. He says I'm not supposed to be dead. Something is wrong with the space-time continuum or something."

Tucker shrugged and blinked as-a-matter-of-factly. "I figured the world was in trouble. Danny Phantom doesn't just _die_."

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Tuck, you know _everything_."

He winked, then stood again. "Do you...want something to eat? Do you eat anymore?"

I grinned at him. Tucker always made me feel normal when I wasn't. He always made me feel proud to be what I was, _who_ I was. He would always be my friend. I processed his question...did I eat anymore? Do ghosts eat? Or need to breathe? Or use the restroom?

"I...I don't think I need any of that," I said, answering both his and my question.

He narrowed his eyes. "That must be weird as fuck, dude." He went over to his bedroom door, "I'm gonna grab a plate of baked ziti. Valerie's downstairs warming it up. I'll tell her you're here."

He left. It was strange being in his home as a guest, as his friend, who wasn't alive. What was that like for him? Probably not the same feeling as what Sam felt when I went to her. Tuck knew something was up, _expected_ me even. He seemed pretty cool with the whole situation. It made me feel like there wasn't a situation at all. I appreciated this...more than he'd ever know.

I wandered around his room looking at all the pictures of him, Sam and I at different points in our lives. Graduation from Casper High...freshman orientation at APU...the three of us at Floody Waters water park multiple times as children and teens. I grabbed a photo off his wall from freshman year of high school, where we had all gone to the movies and snuck into a rated R film. Tucker was holding the camera, so his face was super close to the screen. Sam and I were hysterical next to each other.

I pinched the photograph between my fingers. I couldn't remember if, back then, I ever worried about death and dying. I didn't think so...I mean, I definitely _thought_ about it. I just never worried about it. I protected everyone as best as I could, regardless of the risk and danger. I wasn't careless, but I never hesitated when it came to saving the world. It was my first priority, even at such a young age. I wasn't ever afraid to die for the people I loved and for the cause I lived for.

"It...it really _is_ you..."

I turned to Tucker's doorway and saw Valerie standing in the light of the hall. Her hands were at her sides and her forest green eyes blinked away tears that began dripping over her cheeks. I placed the picture onto Tucker's bed, and in four strides I swept Valerie Gray into my arms.

She wept into my jumpsuit, clutching the material in her grasp. "I don't understand, Danny."

I pet her brown curls and pressed my cheek to the top of her head. "Me either."

I let her cry for a moment. She leaned back to look at me, taking my face in her hands. Her eyes were swollen from more than just the past minute of crying. It was strange to see her this way, since she was usually the strong one, my rock, the one who never showed weakness or gave too much away. But it told me that Tucker might've been the strong one since I'd been gone, and that Valerie hadn't been taking this as well as him.

She pulled my face down to hers and kissed both my cheeks. I leaned into her hands, closing my eyes. Sometimes, I wondered what it would've been like if Val and I had ended up together and never broken up in high school. It would've never worked, because I was always in love with Sam, and she'd always wanted to be with Tucker. We shared a lot, and we bonded over ghost hunting in a different way than I did with Sam or Tucker. She'd had a hard life, but she always made sure I was the one who was okay. She loved me and I loved her. But it was different than the way we loved Sam and Tucker.

"I'm here to say goodbye." I said blatantly. This was not something I wanted to drag out. "I don't want to say it to Tuck...he has a lot more faith in me than I have in myself."

"I understand," Her hands went to the DP logo on my chest. "But, I don't think you should be saying goodbye at all. If Tucker is right, that something is wrong in the world, then I'm not letting you go down with it."

I sighed heavily, turning away from her. "But that's exactly what I _don't_ want." I crossed my arms. "What if my time really _is_ up? I need to have this closure, I need to tell everyone goodbye and let them know I'm going to be okay and _they're_ all going to be okay, I need to be able to pass away peacefully. Why doesn't anyone get that?" I put my hand against Tucker's window, pressing against it and looking down at the floor.

Valerie came up behind me and touched my shoulder, forcing me to face her. "Danny..." Her eyebrows furred, "Do you...do you _want_ to stay dead?"

"What?"

She tilted her head. "It just seems like you've already given up."

Giving up? Was that what this was? Was that what I was doing? I was only saying goodbye to everyone because I wanted to make sure I said all I needed to before I was gone. I didn't want to leave any doors wide open. I wanted to move on without grief or pain or regrets. I wanted to move on without fear. I wanted to move on.

 _I want to move on._

"I...I don't know, Val." I practically whispered. Was I giving up on life? My mind whirled with confused thoughts and feelings and I dragged my hands down my face. "I don't know what I'm doing." That lump in my throat again. _Breathe_. _Swallow it away_.

Valerie pulled my hands off of my face. "Then you need to figure out what you want and get your ass into gear."

I tore my eyes from hers. "How?"

"Instead of looking for ways to say goodbye, you should ask for help." Tucker came back into his room, his plate piled high with pasta.

I shrugged, "That's what Clockwork is doing already."

"Do you really think Clockwork is that blind to what's happened?" Tucker stuffed a forkful in his mouth, then set the plate on his coffee table. "Don't you think Clockwork knows a little more than he's letting on?"

Valerie pulled on my arm. "You need to work _with_ Clockwork on this. Stop saying goodbye. You have all the time in the world to do that if the time comes."

Tucker came over and grabbed my shoulder, shaking it slightly. "You've never gone down without a fight, Danny. You've never gone down without fighting your hardest."

I looked between my friends. They were smart, smarter than I was half the time. Why hadn't I thought about this before? What was the rush to say goodbye? It was only showing everyone, and myself, that I _was_ giving up on life. I realized that's not what I wanted. I never gave up before, and even in death, I wouldn't give up now. Not when so much was at stake.

I'd never go down without a fight.

"I've been blessed to have you both in my life," I wrapped my arms around Valerie and Tucker's necks, and they both hugged me in return. "I'm going to work on coming back to all of you."

"This isn't a goodbye hug, is it?" Valerie frowned up at me as I pulled away from them.

"It's a 'see you later' hug." I smirked and winked at Tucker. I then climbed onto Tucker's windowsill, standing on the edge and looking down at the silent street below.

"Danny, wait!" Val's voice tugged me from the ledge. My head turned.

Her eyes were brighter than before, that strength I knew oh-so well returning to her irises. "When you see Sam a second time...make sure you try again."

I wasn't entirely sure what she meant. But I could guess she wanted me to fight for Sam, instead of say goodbye to her. I nodded once, then jumped out the window into the night.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I returned to the Ghost Zone on a mission this time. Flying through the multi-colored atmosphere, I thought about what Clockwork might know and what he might not be telling me. I truly believed he had my best interests in mind, and I know I needed to trust him. But trust wasn't a one way street; if he knew something that could help me, or knew something that could alter what path I take, he _had_ to tell me.

Something had me practically screech to a halt mid-flight.

It wasn't a ghost, nor was it anything physically there. It was a feeling. Just a feeling. I looked around me at where I was...this part of the Ghost Zone looked different to me. Not unfamiliar, but not familiar either. It was black as night, the only light illuminating the area was swirling green streaking across the- for lack of a better word- sky. The swirls were moving in a pattern, slow and enchanting, twisting like tendrils calling out to me.

I found a floating stone ledge and landed on it, staring up at the haunting beauty of this strange dimension I was in. It reminded me of the Northern Lights, a phenomenon that often lit up the Earth in the dead of night. Never before had I considered the Ghost Zone a place of beauty. Sometimes I considered it my escape from the real world, a place I ran to when I needed to get away. Yes, it was still a place that instilled a type of cautiousness, alertness in me, a wariness of enemies lurking nearby, waiting to take me on. But right then, as I sat under the faux Northern Lights, leaning back on my hands and staring up in wonder, I felt as though I was seeing the Ghost Zone for what it really was.

A place of redemption.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Butch Hartman recently told the world Danny Phantom is not done, but in hibernation. The same goes for this story.

 _~RyJones_


	5. Wants and Needs

**A/N:**

A new chapter ready and waiting for your eyes! Enjoy.

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

Clockwork was waiting in his main room when I returned. But this time, he was not alone.

If there was anyone, _anyone_ in the entire universe I did not want to see right now, it was Vlad Masters, a.k.a Vlad "Plasmius". My arch-nemesis, my enemy, my uncle, my dad's _supposed_ best friend. When I was still a living, breathing human, I expected in the next life I'd never see him. He was going to hell for sure after all he'd done. But, lo and behold, who was standing before Clockwork's portal, its green glow reflecting off his black hair and salty exterior?

Vlad. Vlad, Vlad, _Vlad_.

I landed hard on my feet to emphasize my arrival and presence. "What the fuck are _you_ doing here, Plasmius?" I stalked up to his tall form and placed my hands on my hips.

He turned away from the portal. "Ah, Daniel! Funny you should ask that..." He shoved me aside and approached a youthful Clockwork, "It seems Clockwork needs _my_ help with a little problem." He glanced at me with his red, glowing eyes. "And, as it appears, _you're_ the problem that requires that help, little badger!" He grinned toothily, fangs gleaming.

I glared at Clockwork, my blood boiling. "What is this? Why is he here?" I clenched my fists and crossed my arms. "I don't need- or _want_ \- his help!"

"Danny, relax." Clockwork aged a hundred years and floated over to his portal. "Plasmius has impeccable knowledge of space and time. He is connected to you personally as well, in all pasts and futures I've seen. He may be able to help us make things right."

"I don't know about that," I grimaced, turning to my enemy, "But one thing's for sure...I never thought I'd see the day where _you_ outlived _me_ , old man."

"Oh ha-ha, Daniel, very funny. An old-person joke. Very mature." Vlad slow-clapped and lifted an eyebrow at me. "Even in death you're just as witty as you were alive." He stepped up to me and bent close to my face. "So I suppose you're, in fact, not witty at all."

I growled and moved to lunge at the bastard, but Clockwork prevented me from touching him. "Enough!" He shouted and I felt my body slow as he froze me in time, mid-flight. I struggled to break free of his power, but of course it was no use. As Vlad stepped out of my line of fire, I heard Clockwork click something on his staff and time sped up. I collapsed onto the floor with an "oomph!".

"There is no time for this petty fighting." He said, his voice sterner than I'd ever heard it. "You need to set your differences aside." He glanced at Vlad, who was snickering away. "That means you as well, Plasmius."

I rolled over onto my back and sat up. "Do you really believe this _fruitloop_ is going to save me?"

"I'm not here to just save _you_ , you imbecile, I'm here to save _all_ of us." Vlad reached a hand down to me, offering to pull me to my feet. He seemed serious, but I'd be damned if I was going to let my guard down with him. Even for a moment.

I ignored his hand and scrambled to my feet, brushing off my jumpsuit. "Would either of you care to explain what the hell you're talking about?"

"You think Clockwork and the Observants are the only ones who know the sciences of time?" Vlad crossed his arms and walked up to Clockwork's portal. "I have studied, _diligently_ researched the time-space continuum since I was a youth. In college, I took interest in ghosts because of the balance of life and death...how its cycle never ends, even when _we_ end. Time is ever changing, paths morphing into unimaginable and endless future possibilities!" He tapped his chin. "Plus, your mother was in all my classes, so if I wanted to study time and space, I had to include life, death and _ghosts_ as well."

I ignored his remark about my mother. "So what? What can you do that the Observants can't?"

"It's not that they can't, Danny, it's that they won't." Clockwork interjected, aging backwards. "On multiple occasions, I've discussed your future with them. They tell me not to get involved, that there is 'order in chaos'. I've reached out to them since your death...it's no use." He shook his head in annoyance. "Lucky for you, I know time better than they do. I know everything; they only see what is right in front of them." He waved a hand over his portal, as if mesmerized by its swirling green glow, "But I am no scientist. That's why I summoned Plasmius here to us. We need to look at your problem from all angles."

Vlad's face grew solemn then. He walked up to me stiffly. "You can swear up and down your hatred for me. But- believe it or not- I never wanted this for you, Daniel. My resentment towards you is mainly because you are a constant reminder of the life I never had with the woman I'd never be with." I started to protest, to defend my father and my family, but he stopped me. "When your father called me last week, I ignored it. I figured he wanted to blabber on about...whatever." He sighed. "But then your mother called. And that never happens, as you know. So I knew something terrible must've happened."

"What did that matter to you?" I crossed my arms, mirroring him. "You've always hated me. You've always hated Dad. What did it matter to you if something bad happened to my family?"

"My hatred for you and your father stems from all the anger I have allowed to consume me." He shrugged and looked up at the grinding gears of the tower. "I'll admit it, boy. Allowing this fire to rage on was the easiest way out of facing reality. It is admittedly the cowardice way to live a life." He paused a moment, his red eyes flickering. "If I only have myself to worry about, then I will feel no pain. No suffering affects me unless I am affected directly. I don't have to _feel_ anything if all I do is emit hate and only hate."

I hated to allow myself to feel anything for my sworn enemy...but I couldn't help but pity him. Still, he inflicted so much pain on my friends, my family, the entire world many times. There was no excuse for his torment on others.

Vlad looked at me sadly. "When Maddie called and told me the news of your death, I didn't believe it at first. I didn't want to believe something like this could happen to a woman so full of life. For once, I felt something break in me. I felt her unfathomable suffering. I felt a mother's loss of her child. You may not want to hear this, Daniel, but the love I feel for your mother outweighs all the hatred in my heart. When she hurts, so do I. She loves you with every fiber of her being." He held up his hand, hesitated for a second, then put it on my shoulder. "And, after all this time, I realized that somewhere in the deepest pit of my soul, I have grown fond you."

I glared at him and pulled away from his hand. "I'll believe that load of shit when the Observants decide my life is worth saving." There was no way I'd fall for this sorry act. I almost felt insulted by this attempt to tug on my heartstrings. But I was more angry because part of me started to believe him, even though most of me didn't want to. "There's no excuse for the things you have done, Vlad."

He let his hand drop to his side. "Believe what you want, Danny. But regardless of what you think of me, you need my help. And I want to help you. Not to mention the cracks and unbalance in the time-space continuum-"

"-What about it?" I wanted to get off this emotional roller coaster and move on to more important matters. "How do we know there is an unbalance? Why is my death so significant?"

"That's what we need to find out." Clockwork chimed in, aging a third time in the span of minutes.

"The unbalance is so _obtrusive_ , Daniel!" Vlad said, turning in a complete circle. "Can't you feel it around you? It's practically... _vibrating_. Humming."

"No, Vlad, I don't feel it." I squinted at him skeptically. "I literally don't understand how one man could be so crazed."

"He's right, Danny," Clockwork stated, "Open your mind a little bit and you'll feel it too." He then grabbed my arm, his icy touch sending chills over my skin. "But more of that later. Right now, we need to step up our game a bit."

"What's next?" I asked as he brought me over to the portal.

"We're going to call a time-out right now, regarding your unfinished business." He said, putting a hand on my back. "We need to reflect on significant moments in time; ones that have passed, and ones that are to come." He paused, glancing at Vlad approaching. "Well... _were_ to come, until you died and completely destroyed the time stream."

"Yeah, sorry about that." I crossed my arms. "Whatever it is, let's just get going."

Clockwork waved his hand over the swirling green. "The portal shows us what we need to see, rather than what we want to see. So, I am warning you ahead of time...there may be personal moments revealed to us. All three of us." His maroon eyes looked my way. "We need to see these moments as outsiders looking in. I know it sounds...invading. But it is absolutely necessary."

My heart skipped a beat. As much as I wanted to continue arguing, protesting all of this...Clockwork was the only one who could help me. And if he thought Vlad was someone he needed, then I had to accept that, regardless of what I wanted.

The three of us watched the portal in silence as it rotated and twisted in a vast array of colors and patterns. I had no idea what it would show us first. My eyes flickered to Clockwork...by the looks of it, he had no idea either. And he clearly hated not knowing. I'd never seen the guy so frustrated before. This was his gig, his talent. He practically owned the time stream that I unintentionally fucked up. And he was helping me anyway...I knew it wasn't my fault, obviously. But I bet my ass there were other ways he could mend the time-space continuum without needing to know what my death did to cause the damage.

The portal finally chose a moment to land on, and we watched it play out like a film. Amity Park was covered, completely swarmed in overgrown plant life, vines and roots and barbed stems tumbling over each other. The city was a jungle, all our homes appearing to be years beneath the growth. And then the enormous, powerful nature king rose up from the park in view, screeching into the sky.

"This was when Undergrowth attacked Amity Park," I said, "When I discovered I had cryokinesis."

"Interesting how this is the first moment of time being revealed." Clockwork leaned back, rubbing his chin as a middle-aged man.

"Cryokinesis, eh?" Vlad said, a bit of surprise in his voice. "I was unaware you had power over the cold."

"I learned to manipulate colder temperatures and ice." I demonstrated for him, forming a snowball in my hand. "According to Frostbite, I had it in me since the day I turned half ghost."

"Odd, considering you are far from 'chill'." He laughed as his own terrible joke, until I shut him up by shoving my snowball into his face.

I turned back to the portal. It was showing us fourteen year old me, trying to struggle out of vines that held me to the earth. I tapped my foot. "What else can we find in this moment that's significant?"

Clockwork stared deeply into the screen. "You tell me."

A younger, completely brainwashed Sam floated into view and I swallowed hard. For a moment, I almost unconsciously reached out to the monitor, trying to reach her myself. I shook myself and sent my emotions away. "Well, this was also the first serious battle I ever ran from."

"Ran from?" Vlad asked.

"Before Frostbite taught me how to use my new abilities, I fought with the powers I already mastered." I explained. "And it was no use, I couldn't beat Undergrowth with anything I had. My new powers were taking a toll on me, I couldn't handle the all-over cold. And my best friend Sam was under his control, she was coming after me. So...I ran. I ran for the Ghost Zone." I chewed my bottom lip. "I was lucky I ended up in the Far Frozen, otherwise Frostbite wouldn't have found me and helped me."

"Funny how some fates work." Clockwork smiled humorlessly at me.

I shrugged. "I don't know if that helps any. I'll never forget that fight, though, as the first fight I ever ran from."

"Despite your retreat, you ended up coming back." Clockwork argued. "And when you did, you used only your strengths and smarts to defeat him. No weapons, no gadgets. Just your natural- or unnatural- abilities."

The portal began spiraling again and I nodded. "I may have run, but I never said I'd ever give up."

Vlad leaned against the wall beside us. "To this day- even in _death_ \- you're still as stubborn as an ass."

The portal then showed us the basement of Fenton Works. I had a brief flashback to the moments before my parents found me dying in front of it. I cringed when the image steadied; I could still see clear as day how the portal looked when I was dying and desperately crawling to it. My hands splayed out before me on that linoleum floor, my eyesight fading...the sound of silence.

I blinked the memory away. Young Sam, Tucker and I were sneaking down the basement stairs to the lab, trying to be as quiet as we could. The portal was turned off and I was clutching a white with black trim HAZMAT suit to my chest. I could see, just by looking at my own innocent eyes, that this was only moments before I became a halfa.

"This is when I changed." I muttered to Clockwork.

He lifted his eyebrow. "I was able to watch this live. It was exciting."

Vlad pushed off the wall and stepped up next to me. "This should be _very_ interesting."

I saw myself stepping into the jumpsuit, wary and fearful. "I always wondered what the whole thing looked like to Sam and Tucker. They must've thought I died until I came stepping out of that literal death trap."

"What was it like for you?" Vlad asked. "Our transformations were very different. My accident was a tad less...electrifying."

"I just remember blinding green and white." I said, watching the scene unfold as my pulse quickened. "I felt like I was zapped by a thousand bolts of lightning. Walking in there, I just was messing around, checking out all the hard work and technology my parents put into it. It was stupid but I thought it wasn't even working at the time."

"And it wasn't working," Clockwork said, "Not until you accidentally pressed that button."

Then, it happened. I watched myself press that button, changing everything, altering my entire world forever. The ghost portal blasted to life, a force so strong it pushed Sam and Tucker to the floor. My screams echoed through the basement, my body twisting and contorting in pain. My two friends held each other, their faces displaying so much fear and shock. You could tell that they had no idea whether or not I was coming out of it alive. Between the hopelessness on their faces and my bone chilling screams of pain, it was actually _extremely_ horrifying to watch.

"I don't remember it hurting so badly. Or for so long." I said quietly.

"You became half _ghost_ , Daniel." Vlad said in an exaggerated tone, "You were probably traumatized."

I watched as my young teenage self stumbled out of the portal. He held his head, Tucker and Sam rushing to his side. When his hands fell away, they revealed hair whiter than the cleanest snow and his eyes opened, glowing the brightest green possible. Panic-stricken, the three youths began to try and make sense of what happened.

"I guess I was traumatized," I responded to Vlad, "I had to be. I feel like I blocked out all of...this." I waved my hand, gesturing at the monitor. "I just remember realizing I was half ghost and that I had amazing superpowers. And I wanted more than anything to change the world and protect people."

"Very noble indeed." I couldn't tell if Vlad was being sarcastic or not.

The monitor changed again, colors swirling around until it found another moment to stop on.

The scene was dark, and a man with his back facing us stood on top of a hill. It was night time and Amity Park was lit up and alive. I could see the male was was wearing a black and white jumpsuit with had blue straps wrapping around his back, like he was wearing a backpack backwards. He ran a gloved hand through his white hair and turned around, revealing that he wasn't carrying a backpack, but an infant in a chest pack.

"What is this?" I squinted at the screen, watching as the man started floating toward the monitor. He was coming down the hill, nearing a street lamp.

"Wait," Vlad leaned in, "Is that...? That can't be you, can it?"

"You're both very quick." Clockwork shook his head, rolling his eyes. "This is one of your futures, Danny."

The man floated into the light, landing on his booted feet. Of course, he was me. Now that he was standing in the light of the lamp post, I could see the DP logo on the jumpsuit, just over the infant's black-haired head, and my face was easily recognizable. I appeared not much older than I was now...I was maybe in my late twenties/early thirties.

A voice rang out through the monitor. " _Are you kidding me right now Danny?_ "

 _Sam!_ I recognized at the same time as my future self's face registered her voice. She stepped into frame, looking beautiful as ever, in a violet plaid pajama pants and a white tank top. She was shaking her head incredulously at future me.

He spoke in a huskier voice than I imagined having. " _What? It's a nice night._ "

" _Are you seriously taking our son out ghost hunting right now?_ " She lifted an eyebrow. " _It's the middle of the night!_ "

" _He was crabby, Sam._ " Older Danny shrugged sheepishly, petting the infant boy's head, transforming back into human form. He was wearing pajama pants and a NASA t-shirt. It was so typical me. " _Ghost hunting totally calms him down. And besides, it's never too early to start training him._ "

Sam approached the older version of me, her face straight, but I could tell there was a smile of admiration playing on her lips. She reached into the pack and scooped out the baby boy.

He had the biggest and brightest indigo eyes, a mix of blue and violet I have never seen before. Jet black hair, just like his parents. _Just like Sam and I_. Dimples indenting where he sucked his pacifier, he blinked up at his mother innocently, as if to tell her everything was fine, that he wanted to go outside with his father.

I looked at Clockwork. "That's my kid." I stated it more than I questioned it. I was amazed and overwhelmed...words couldn't describe the rush of emotions this was stirring in me. But it came as no surprise that there was a future where Sam and I were married with a kid. I should've made our relationship start much sooner, especially now that I'd died and may not actually come back. A sickening ache was inhabiting my soul and I clenched my fists.

Clockwork nodded slowly. "That's your boy. I can't tell you much about this life, but I can tell you this: he was born to do _incredible_ things."

A sense of pride swelled in my chest. But it conflicted with the utter agony I was feeling, the yearn I had to be living this life.

"After all this time...?" Vlad tilted his head to look at me. I knew he was asking, after all this time, if I still loved her.

"She's the only one who knows who I really am." I said. Looking at the Sam from my past, from when I changed, up to this future moment revealing itself to me only confirmed this. She was the only one who saw me for who I really was. She saw my soul inside and out. I had no idea why I ever fucking waited to tell her that. I wasted her time and mine. When this was all over, whether I came back or had to move on, I was going to make sure I made things right with her.

Older Sam snuggled the baby into the crook of her arm and pecked his head. " _Well,_ _**he**_ _may have been born four months ago, but_ _ **I**_ _sure wasn't_." She reached for older Danny's hand and pulled. " _You can't fool me. You patrol every night. You don't have to be Amity Park's hero and Jax's father all at the same time._ " When older me didn't move, Sam stopped and faced him. " _What is it, Danny?_ "

Older me sighed, taking off the baby pouch and clutching it in his fist. " _I was always good at being both Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton. But now that we have Jackson, I'm not sure I know how anymore._ "

Sam came up to older Danny and placed a hand on his cheek. He leaned into it, closing his eyes. She kissed him, her eyebrows furred as she lightly pressed her lips to his. I could practically feel them on my present mouth, my fingertips aimlessly moving to my lips as I recalled how they felt whenever she kissed them.

Sam then placed the baby- _our_ baby- into older Danny's arms. " _We've been through hell and back together. You can protect him and the world. You just need to find that balance in yourself._ "

Older me stared down at the indigo-eyed child as he blinked slowly, his eyes drooping as he nuzzled into older Danny's chest. " _I just want to be the best for him. For both of you. What if I can't balance this life and my ghost half? What if...what if I let him down?_ "

Sam stared at the two of them with such love, it consumed my very core. She held older Danny's elbow. "Y _ou were the best for him before he was even a thought in our minds. He loves you so much already._ " She ran her fingers through Jax's messy black hair. " _Danny, you are the greatest man I have ever known. That will never, ever change._ "

" _Sometimes I don't know who I am. I mean, we all want to be somebody._ " Older me murmured and shrugged. " _Sometimes I just feel like I need to find a little piece of who I am. Just to get myself back on track._ "

Sam stared at him for a moment. Then she nodded to the side. " _Let's take our son inside._ "

Older Danny stroked Jackson's face. He than ran a hand through his own hair, handing the boy off to Sam. " _I'll be in in a bit. I think I might go for a flight._ " Sam looked like she wanted to protest, but older Danny silenced her with a swift kiss. " _I'm okay. It'll only be for a little._ " Sam nodded, smiling sympathetically, then walked away and out of frame.

Blue-white rings formed around my older self and I watched as he transformed into his other half and took off into the night.

The portal swirled around, causing the colors of that world to blend together as if it never happened.

Clockwork turned to me. "Do you see what I've been saying? I've known your life and I've known your death. I have seen it. What happened to you wasn't right."

"So, this future..." I gestured to the portal. "That's real? That's my life?"

"It's how it was supposed to be, yes." Clockwork grimaced. "There were several paths leading you to this life, as well as others, but this was the primary path I saw for you."

Vlad pat my shoulder, a gesture that surprised me yet again. "I hope that, for the world's sake and yours, Daniel, we fix whatever is broken."

The portal showed a lab then, one that was familiar, but not my father's. "What's-?"

"-That's my lab." Vlad whispered. "Why...?" We watched as an alternate Vlad walked into frame, guiding a fourteen year old me over to a lab table.

" _Please, Vlad._ " Younger Danny said, sitting onto the lab table. " _Don't try to convince me to change my mind. Please take it all away._ "

" _What you are asking me to do..._ " Younger Vlad said, rubbing his hands together, " _I am removing a part of you. I don't know what kind of damage it will-_ "

" _-I don't care, I don't fucking care._ " Younger me pulled at his own hair in sheer agony. " _Nothing can possibly be worse than the pain I feel every waking second._ "

"Daniel, what is this?" Present Vlad asked me.

I glanced at Clockwork. "Is this what I think it is?"

He nodded. "Your rebirth."

Vlad inched closer. "His _what?_ "

"There was point in time where there was an accident." I explained. "Where a choice I made lead to the death of everyone I ever loved or cared for. In this life, the accident resulted in me moving in with you and requesting you remove my ghost half with your ghost gauntlets."

"I...I don't recall." Vlad stammered.

"That's because it never happened." Clockwork stated. "Danny made sure of that."

We watched as past Vlad put an oxygen mask onto past Danny's face. "What you do here ended up leading to my ghost half going insane. I...or it...used the gauntlets on you in return. Then he overshadowed your ghost half and created an evil version of myself." I winced as past Vlad was charging up the gauntlets. "Dark Danny, we called him. He then began his ten year long rampage of world destruction."

"Good god!" Vlad hissed, holding a hand to his chest in astonishment. "You stopped this madness?"

"And thanks to Clockwork, everyone was saved." I said. "He made sure basically no one remembered it, and he rewound time to give me a second chance at making the right choice." My eyes were glued to the screen. "I'd never actually seen this part of it...I traveled ten years in the future and spoke to you and _you_ told me the story of what happened."

Past Vlad turned on the gauntlets, slipping his hands inside. He hesitated a moment, looking at my unconscious past self with pure sadness in his eyes. Then, he tore into my body, ripping my ghost half from my gut. Human me woke up as the ghost part of me floated on the gauntlets, eyes crazed and frantic. He grabbed the gauntlets in his abdomen, and pulled them from past Vlad's hands, causing him to stumble back. Human Danny rolled off the table and crawled over to a shadowed wall as ghost Danny put on the gauntlets and grabbed Vlad by the collar.

He dug the gauntlet claws into Vlad, and ripped the soul from within him, throwing Vlad aside. Ghost Danny tossed the gauntlets and immediately aimed and flew straight into Vlad's ghost, totally consuming him and transforming with horrifying cracks forming all over his face and eyes glowing red like blood. He then turned to cowering human Danny and floated up to him.

"Oh no." I muttered, wanting to cover my eyes but finding it impossible to look away.

Ghost Danny went in for the kill. He used ghost rays, plasma balls of energy and his two bare hands to tear the flesh off of human Danny, who screamed and screamed until it was too much to bear. I turned away and covered my ears, finding my own screams more horrifying than anything I had ever heard in my entire life.

The screams ceased abruptly, indicating my death. There was the sound of an explosion, then nothing.

I turned back to the screen. "I feel like I would never have made _that_ choice now."

Vlad gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he blinked at the screen. "Because it killed you, or because your ghost half was too out of control to survive outside of you?"

"All of the above."

The images morphed into scenes of teenage me fighting Dark Danny with every part of me, my spirit stronger than my muscles. I threw punches and ectoplasm Dark Danny's way, while he laughed and accepted pain like it felt rejuvenating. It was one of the hardest battles I ever fought, one of the worst enemies I had ever went up against. Ironic, how I was my own worst enemy.

Clockwork chuckled to himself. "I was supposed to kill you, you know."

"You were?" I lifted an eyebrow.

"The Observants sent me to kill you so you wouldn't turn into the most evil creation the world had ever seen." He waved his staff at me. "That's why I sent Box Lunch to the past."

I shook my head and held up my first finger. "First of all: you sent Box Lunch to _kill_ me? That fight was over before it began." I ticked off a second finger. "Secondly...I thought the Observants only 'observe, never act'. And third," I ticked off a third finger. "Why didn't you just kill me yourself?"

Clockwork watched the footage of Dark Danny and I fighting. "I didn't kill you myself because I already knew your fate was sealed. You weren't dying by my hand, not in any lifetime. To answer your second question: the Observants like to break rules without breaking the rules...and they thought they could use me to do that. So, I sent Box Lunch because I knew she wouldn't kill you. It would only open more paths I could use to ensure you wouldn't become evil."

"It makes about as much sense as any other goddamn thing going on right now." Vlad said.

I watched my younger self release a ghostly wail unto Dark Danny. "When I used my ghostly wail on my darker self, he said I wasn't supposed to get that power until ten years from then. Why did that change?"

Clockwork rubbed the back of his neck. "I knew there was a chance you'd receive that power before adulthood. You always had it in you, even though your adolescent body wasn't exactly developed enough to handle the drain of power. I suppose, like all the other events that led to this fight, your eyes were opened to everything you are capable of."

As the battle rage on, I began to wonder something else. "Clockwork, I have a question."

"Yes, child?"

"We sucked my darker self into a Fenton Thermos. And then you told me that you would take care of it." I blinked. "If you still have him here...doesn't that mean he still exists _outside_ of time?"

There was a pause.

Vlad and I glanced at each other.

Clockwork's staff clattered to the floor.

He whipped away from the portal and looked at us.

"Oh my GOD!"

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Interesting how the past comes back to impact the future...

Someone requested I list the songs inspired by each chapter in my author notes (at the end of each chapter) and put them in a list at the very end so anyone reading can have a playlist. Cool idea- thanks for the tip!

Songs that inspired this chapter: "Ashes of Eden" by Breaking Benjamin and "Be Somebody" by Thousand Foot Krutch

 _~RyJones_


	6. Control

**A/N:**

So many mysteries, so little time.

A lot had happened in the month of November; I was involved in a hit-and-run accident resulting in a hospital trip and the death of my beloved car. My grandfather's passing, just after Thanksgiving. Not being able to find a comfort during these hard times. I am having a rough time adjusting to this in-between stage of a chapter in my life ending and a new one just beginning.

So, while I wait for this transition, I will focus on this new chapter instead. I poured a bit of my personal struggle into Danny's current struggle, and I am eager to share it with you all.

Again, I appreciate the support and love from my readers, and today I encourage you to do something nice for someone else. Pay it forward, and good things will come your way.

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

Sometimes, you get so excited you've won the battle, that you forget there's still a war.

There's nothing permanent about a cage. Whatever you keep inside of it isn't going to stay there forever. You can keep it under lock and key, you can guard it until you take your last breath, you can have constant surveillance to make sure it is secured.

But you can't stop the inevitable fact that, one day, it will escape.

My heart thudded violently in my ears as Vlad, Clockwork and I ran through the halls of the citadel. Vlad and Clockwork were talking so frantically, I couldn't process what they were saying. Dread instilled in me the moment I asked Clockwork the question that sent us running in the first place. Dread, and fear.

 _There isn't anything to panic about yet_ , I thought while counting the heavy echoing sound of each time my boots pounded the floor. _One, two, three, four, five. I beat him once, I can do it again_. But I knew all too well how hard that might be, and how much I didn't want to fight him again. _Eleven, twelve, thirteen..._

We rounded a corner and Clockwork halted at a purple wooden door secured by multiple chains and locks. The silence between the three of us only confirmed how scared I really should be.

Clockwork began murmuring words. It sounded like a charm or incantation of some sort, and as he mumbled under his breath, the chains began to fall away.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Clockwork?" Vlad asked warily, wringing his hands. "Even if he hasn't escaped, we don't know if opening the door will-"

The final lock and chain crumbled to the floor, quieting Vlad. Clockwork sighed heavily, then shoved the door open, motioning for us to follow him into the room.

"If there is one thing I know about time and _him_ ," Clockwork muttered, "It's that there are no rules. All game is fair."

The room was large but empty, other than a pedestal in the center of it that the Fenton thermos sat upon. I felt my stomach flip at the sight of it, and I reflected momentarily on the last time I used it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vlad spat. "All game is fair...how so?"

Clockwork approached the pedestal, his back to us, and he gently lifted the thermos into his hands. "As Danny said, he exists outside of time. He used to exist within the time loop, where everything made sense and everything was the way it was supposed to be." His shoulders hunched as he visibly cringed. "But because we took him out of it, the rules and science of time no longer applied to him."

"So..." Vlad said hoarsely, "So...what does this mean, then?"

"It means," Clockwork began as he slowly turned to us. My jaw dropped when I saw the shredded, gaping hole in the side of the Fenton thermos. "Dark Danny managed to free himself. And since he exists outside of time, he can now make his _own_ rules."

"No...no." I bent forward, leaning on my knees for support. I squeezed my eyes shut. "No." My nails dug into my kneecaps and I felt my body begin to shake.

"How long has he been out?!" Vlad exclaimed beside me, reaching for the broken, useless thermos. "When did he escape? _How_ did he escape?"

I straightened up, fists quivering, as Clockwork frustratedly paced across the floor. "He could have escaped just now, or days ago, or even _years_ ago, I don't know." He said through gritted teeth. "I hate that I don't know! How long has he been out? How much time has he had to plot his next scheme?" He floated over to me, his burgundy eyes narrowing and staring into mine. "I knew the Fenton thermos wouldn't hold him for all eternity, Danny. But I thought the room at least would-"

"-Wait." I said, leaning away from him. "You mean to tell me you and the Observants tossed the thermos carrying the most _evil being to ever exist_ into a locked room and just... _called it a day?!_ "

Clockwork glared at me, crossing his arms. "Don't be disdainful, Daniel, we knew what we were doing, we did what was necessary to protect what we needed to protect. That room was secure, he had no chance of escaping, even if he escaped the thermos!" He shook his fists at the shattered device in Vlad's hands. "Which is why I don't understand how he did! He couldn't have escaped. Unless-"

"-Unless someone let him out." Vlad whispered, finishing Clockwork's sentence.

The three of us looked between each other. Then Clockwork aged forward, tapping his staff on the floor. "I'm the only one who has access to this room."

Vlad tossed the Fenton thermos to the ground. It clanged loudly and futilely rolled away. "Someone else must have access. Because- _surely_ \- you didn't set him free, did you, Clockwork?

Clockwork grimaced. "No, Plasmius, _surely_ I did not," he said mockingly.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, seemingly trying to physically grab ahold of the situation. I had no control over anything that happened throughout my life, but my darker opposite was the one thing I thought I had under control. The lack thereof was causing panic to build inside me.

"Well, someone must have, because he's free!" I growled.

Clockwork cursed and pushed past Vlad and I, exiting the room. Vlad looked at me, shrugged, and we followed him out, walking back in the direction of his main room.

"I have to visit the Observants." Clockwork said as he transformed into a child. "They might have seen something."

"I should hope so, they're the _Observants_ after all," Vlad said sarcastically as we entered the portal room. "For god-sake, what kind of show are they running where an evil being is freely rampaging wild?"

"I don't know what kind of game they play, Vlad." I answered before Clockwork could. "They sure fuck around more than they're supposed to, sitting on there thrones and watching shit fall apart."

"Enough, both of you." Clockwork waved a hand over his portal. "We'll get to the bottom of this. Right now I need to go give those floating eyeballs a piece of my mind."

"This must be what caused the unbalance in the space-time continuum," Vlad rubbed his black goatee, "Such a being existing out of the loop _must_ be the reason behind it."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So he couldn't have escaped too long ago." I said, scratching my head. "How long have you been feeling the 'unbalance', Vlad?"

Clockwork looked over at Vlad, who grunted and rubbed his chin. "Since your death, as I said earlier. I am unsure of the exact date and time it began, considering I don't typically sit around all day with the cat and wait for these phenomenons to happen." He rolled his eyes. "But...I was feeling it some time before Maddie called me with the news. A few days perhaps."

"Then...doesn't it sound like his escape and my passing coincide?" I blinked, slowly absorbing my own conclusion.

Clockwork returned to his middle-aged form and adjusted his hood. "A possible missing piece of the puzzle. It seems too coincidental that Dark Danny has escaped just as- or just _before_ \- you died."

"Yet Daniel was killed by the hands of his own mother and father." Vlad said, somewhat reluctantly. My gut twisted in pain from his words. I didn't want to think that they'd murdered me, and that it was their doing so that sent me to this perpetual hell. I would do anything to make sure it was someone else's fault.

"We don't know for sure what point in time was changed in order for that to happen." Clockwork said hurriedly. "Obviously none of those events were supposed to transpire. If- and _only_ if- Dark Danny is at fault here, then somehow he altered something, a moment in time, that lead to our Danny's downfall."

"What's the next step?" I asked jumping up and hovering in the air. "I'll go wherever you need me to go, I'll do whatever it takes to find that son of a bitch and-"

"-We can't do _anything_ until after I speak with the Observants." Clockwork said, hands raised. "Please, Danny...Don't go looking for your darker counterpart. Not before we have some kind of idea of what's going on or what the plan is. Alright?"

I frowned. "So what am I supposed to do until then?"

"Perhaps you should return to Amity Park." Vlad said, heading for the portal. "I'm going back home until Clockwork has news. And I'm locking my goddamned doors." He wrapped his cape around himself. "If this 'Dark Danny' is as evil as you say he is, then I suggest you do the same. There's no use hanging around here twiddling your thumbs, boy." He leapt through the portal and disappeared without so much as a wave.

Though I _hated_ to admit it, Vlad was right. Obviously not about finding some place to lock doors and hide...so typical of him to make that his Plan A. But if I stayed here and waited, I'd just go crazy. Honestly, I wanted to start looking for my worst enemy...that was the _only_ thing I wanted right now. I wanted to find him, find out what he did and send him straight to hell. I couldn't do that, clearly; not now at least. Not until we had more information. I wanted to do as Clockwork said, considering he was going _far_ out of his way to help me and find out what happened...

Or maybe he was just helping himself, since time was his specialty, what he alone controlled above all else. Maybe he and I feared the same thing; maybe we both feared the unknown and losing control. CW hated it when paths deviated, he made it very clear that he hated not "knowing" everything and when there was no order. It seemed like it frightened him as much as it scared me, if not more. He _needed_ this to be fixed. So who knew what his motives for helping me were, really?

There was something I needed to do first, of course. Now that I'd had time to really process everything and get used to what was going on, I felt like maybe it was time to do this. I owed it to them, and I owed it to myself.

"I think I'm ready to see my parents." I said to Clockwork, floating towards his portal.

Clockwork looked at me strangely. "Are you sure? You may feel confident about it now...but that might change when you actually stand before them."

I didn't want CW to talk me out of this. I didn't want to talk _myself_ out of this. If I didn't do it now, I never would. I'd never say goodbye if I had to really pass on, and I'd never make amends if this problem could be solved.

"I'm sure." I said, less strongly than I meant to.

Clockwork nodded. "I'll summon you once I find out some information on Dark Danny." He nodded to the portal. "Good luck to you."

I peered into the portal, my hands resting on its outer rim. I look a deep breath, then climbed inside.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I stood outside of Fenton Works on the stoop of a house I lived in my entire life.

I felt like an outsider, strangely. I felt like it wasn't my home, that I didn't live here. Like I was about to knock on the door as a visitor, not as someone who inhabited the house.

I felt like I didn't belong. Which was such an unsettling feeling. Because I _did_ belong, this was my house, _my_ home. I spent my whole life here, from birth until death. I was brought home as an infant, grew up and changed and became who I was. And then I died in the basement, the very basement in my house where I belonged.

But why didn't it feel like I did...?

Since the incident with my parents, I felt different. Of course I felt different- I was dead. Not only that though; I felt, as a person, I was no longer the Danny I had been accustomed to being. Like something in me, in my soul, died. A door closing. But another door hadn't opened yet. It felt like I was in some kind of in-between stage, like I was stuck in the hallway between the door that closed and the door that will open next.

Literally, I was in Purgatory, and existentially, I was too.

 _I don't think I want to do this._

I tangled my fingers in my pristine white hair and shook my head, staring down at the ground. "Come on, Fenton," I whispered. "Get a grip."

 _It's just your house. You belong here. You belonged with them when you were alive. It's just mom and dad. Just mom and dad. Just mom and dad-_

My heart was beating so fast and I didn't even realize I was practically tearing my hair out. I released my scalp, and a whoosh of air and I stared down at my white-gloved hands. I didn't like the way I was feeling while I looked at them. Like they weren't my hands. Even though they were.

I closed my eyes and counted to one hundred. I knew I was panicking over the idea of seeing my parents. I wanted it to be because I felt guilty. It _had_ to be because I felt guilty for not telling them the truth, and it was my fault for not being honest with them. Things would've been different if I had told them everything, they would've let me protect them. Or my dad would've tried to fight ghosts beside me, not try to fight me himself. If I had just told them from the beginning about the accident, things would've been different.

I wanted that to be the reason...but the _real_ reason was that every time I closed my eyes, every moment, every second I was reliving my death, over and over again.

 _Just mom and dad. Mom and dad. My mom and dad did this. My mom and dad killed me. My mom and dad shot me. My mom and dad killed their own son. My mom and dad thought I was a monster. My mom who raised me, my father who guided me, my parents gave me life and then took it like it was nothing._

I gasped and backed down the stoop steps, stumbling a bit. I couldn't keep thinking that way. It's not what I really thought of them. My parents were everything to me. They were _still_ everything to me. I loved them and would continue to love them until the day I finally met my maker. I was letting the incident eat away at me. I was allowing it to control everything I felt, and I was losing my ability to fight it off.

This was anxiety. Like a black cloud over my shoulder, waiting to attack, always waiting and watching me and lingering close enough just so I'd feel it near me. A shadow. It was my own shadow bringing me fear and doubt and so much pain.

Clockwork was right. I hadn't even made it through the front door.

I wasn't ready.

"Danny?"

My breath hitched at the sound of her voice. I spun around.

"Sam?"

Sam was wearing a heavy, black winter coat that wrapped around her slender figure like a robe. She was carrying a tray of food in her hands, which were covered in violet mittens. She had her hair draped around her shoulders, the gray sky behind her making her purple irises pop. As always, she made everything around me fade away.

She stepped closer to me, tilting her head. "Danny, what are you doing here?"

I scratched the back of my head and glanced over my shoulder at the front door. "I..." _I what?_ "I was just seeing if..." I stopped talking and hung my head shamefully. "I was just leaving, actually."

"Oh," She said, shifting the tray into the crook of her arm.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her in an attempt to redirect the conversation. "What do you have there?"

She pursed her full lips, avoiding my eyes. "I'm...I've been by the house the past few days. My mom keeps making food for them, and I use it as an excuse to come over."

I mirrored her expression and nodded slowly. "Oh."

"That's not all though," She stepped closer to me, "Today is...you know." I shook my head, not understanding. "It's...the _day_."

I looked at her funny. "Sam, don't beat around the bush-"

"-Your funeral, today's your goddamn funeral Danny, okay?" She brushed past me to head up the steps but I grabbed her by the arm.

"Sam, wait." I held a tight grip on her, partly because I didn't want her to go, but mostly because I was feeling dizzy from what she had just said. "Please, wait."

She glared at me, her eyes cutting my heart. But then she sighed, her face softening, and she placed the tray of food onto the top step. She pried my fingers off of her bicep one by one, and then took my hand in both of hers.

"I'm sorry for getting mad at you the other night." She said, staring down at my knuckles. "I'm not sorry for how I feel, but I'm sorry, so sorry, for being so insensitive."

I put my other hand on hers. "No Sam, you weren't, I understand why you said those things-"

"-Please let me finish." She looked up at me through her eyelashes, her gaze so intense I wanted to count each lash until I got lost in them. "I was blinded by my emotions. I wasn't thinking about how you must feel." She closed her eyes and a tear escaped. "You're dead, Danny. _Really_ dead. And I couldn't get past that. I couldn't imagine what life would be like now that you are gone."

I pulled her closer to me and wiped her eyes. "I know, I wasn't mad or anything. I understand, I completely understand. I'm so sorry you're going through this."

"What made me realize how thoughtless I was being was when I thought about how I'm not going through it alone," She continued, unconsciously leaning her cheek into my palm. "I have my family's support. I have our friends. I have my whole life ahead of me. And you..." She sniffed heavily. "You didn't have any of that. Everything that ever mattered to you is _here_. You are the one who has to leave it behind. And I made it harder for you to deal with it. I made you more alone." She groaned.

Seeing her like this, seeing someone who was always so strong become so vulnerable and so broken...it destroyed me. I wanted to cry with her. I wanted to tell her how scared I was, that I hadn't been the brave superhero she'd come to know and love. But I needed to keep it together so that she could know everything would be alright.

I was clutching her to me, one hand behind her head and the other on her back. She sobbed into my neck, clutching the front of my jumpsuit in her hands. I buried my face in her shoulder, swallowing everything I was feeling inside, holding back just to be strong for her.

"I'm figuring it all out as I go along." I said, closing my eyes. "I'm trying to figure out how to come back, how to fix everything and make things go back to the way they were. I'm not giving up, not now, not ever." I breathed in her lavender-spring scented hair. "Even if I need to go...I won't go down without a fight. And I am so sorry I made you think I was effortlessly leaving life behind. I swear that's not what I was doing at all-"

"-I know, I know, I'm so sorry I didn't realize it sooner." I felt her hand on the back of my hair. "I know you, I know you wouldn't ever go down easy, I just had a hard time accepting everything. I can't take any of it, it doesn't make sense, it's not fair-"

I leaned my head against hers, hugging her tightly. "Sam." I pulled back to look at her. Mascara ran down her face and her bottom lip was quivering with a mixture of sadness and frustration. I could only describe the way she looked as distraught. I rubbed the makeup away and held her face in my hands.

"Sam," I said again. She wrapped her arms around my waist. "I promise I'm not giving up. I'm sorry you're going through this. You are losing me as much as I am losing you." My thumbs grazed over her fair skin. "But I want you to know...I can't live in a world where you don't exist." I felt my eyes water...I was losing control. "As much as I want to believe I have the ability to move on if I need to...I can't. I don't think I will ever be able to leave while you're still here."

That's when she straightened up and kissed me.

Not like our little friendly pecks, or like our old "fake-out" make-outs. This was different...I had never been kissed like this before. Her lips attacked mine and I heard myself moan into her mouth as I gripped the sides of her jacket to pull her to me. Her hands were tangled in my hair and her tongue explored the inside of my lips and it was so dangerously good I forgot who I was and where I was and whatever was going on and everything felt so damn right in the world in this moment. One, single moment of rare, pure peace.

When we finally broke apart, our faces were still close together, mostly because I didn't want it to end. Sam opened her eyes and gazed at me. Like, _really_ gazed at me. She'd never done that before. It was like in the movies where two people in love really look at each other for the first time. Except, I had always looked at her like this, I think. But I hadn't seen this in her before today.

"Danny, I love you." She said quietly. "I don't want that to keep you here if you ever need to go. But you were right; it needs to be said. It's not too late to tell you I love you because I was given a chance to actually say it, even if things don't turn out the way we want them to. So I love you. And I will _always_ love you."

I closed my eyes. I felt such relief hearing her say this, something I had never felt before. A weight literally being lifted from every part of my body. I felt like I was on a cloud...no, I _was_ a cloud. This felt great, not only being loved by someone I loved...but it felt as though, for the very first time...I received closure.

"I love you too, Sam...Thank you." I laughed, opening my eyes and shaking my head. "Thank you for this."

She looked puzzled, but she didn't ask me what I meant by that. She only pecked my nose. "Tucker helped me get there. I'm still...having some trouble adjusting. But my mind is a little bit more at peace. So I'm glad you visited me the other night." She pulled away from me and backed up the stoop steps. She scooped up the tray of food. "What are you going to do now?"

I sighed, staring up at the girl I loved forever, standing in front of the home I was terrified to enter. Seeing her standing there made me feel more at home again. But I wasn't ready; I knew I wasn't ready to face them.

"Do you think it would be alright if I came to the funeral?" I asked without thinking.

She blinked, wiping her eyes. "I guess so. It is _your_ funeral. Seems kind of morbid though, don't you think?"

I shrugged. "I want to be there to support everyone. I won't be seen, I'll literally be there in spirit. Besides, you always liked morbid, didn't you?"

She rolled her eyes at me, her mouth opening in annoyance. That was the Sammy I knew and adored. "I grew out of that after junior year in high school."

I crossed my arms. "You did not, you just went from sort-of goth to mildly goth with a broader taste in music."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Touché. This is a little overkill, though. I'm not opposed to the idea, but it's all up to you."

"I think I will go." I nodded, "I should go. It's respectful, right?"

"To _whom_ , exactly?"

 _My parents_ , I thought to myself. If I couldn't talk to them yet, the least I could do is be there behind them in their time of need. "Just tell me where the cemetery is and what time I need to be there."

Sam shuffled her feet. "It's the big cemetery near the park. You know the one. And it's in an hour, at ten a.m., okay?"

"I'll be there, Sammy."

She smiled sadly. Then the smile fell away and only sadness remained. "See you there, Danny." She opened the front door to my house and disappeared inside.

I leapt up and flew over Fenton Works, traveling in the direction of the park. This would be good for me. It would help motivate me to keep going. And it would be good to stand there and be with my loved ones in spirit. That's what we as humans wanted after someone passed away, right? To know our loved ones were watching out for us.

We always say to each other "they're with you in spirit". Or when we tell stories at a wake, we laugh and feel good and think of how that person would love that we told stories about them. That they would've laughed with us. That they're shaking their heads at all of us, saying "just wait until you get up here". That they can see us when we are crying for them, or when we celebrate their life. We think of them pointing down at us and saying "I'll always be with you". That's what humans do when they lose someone. It motivates people to keep going, too.

The air was nippy as I flew over Amity Park. It was winter when I died, but I didn't remember it being this cold. I glanced at the white-gray sky, hoping the weather would hold out for my loved ones. They didn't need anymore rain.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I was glad I went.

When people arrived, they stood at the entrance of the cemetery, awaiting my parents, and my sister and Dean to arrive with my casket. There were so many individuals surrounding my grave site, I never expected it. People from my high school, even Dash Baxter who bullied me, and kids I met in classes at Casper High and at APU showed up. Teachers, police officers, even the guy who owned the bakery in town came to pay their respects. It surprised me, and it made me feel as though I- as Danny _Fenton_ , not Danny _Phantom_ \- made an impact on people's lives.

I stood with Sam, Val and Tucker. I went invisible, just in case my ghost form accidentally revealed himself, and I asked Val and Tuck how they were holding up. Val said she was dreading today, but me being here made it easier. She also told me my family didn't have a wake for me; she said- very conservatively- that it was because I was "beyond repair". She was glad they didn't have to see me.

I was glad, too.

Tucker said that my parents had been dealing with a lot of legal issues on top of everything else. They had been cleared of any murder charges, and their lawyer managed to get them off what would've been house arrest by claiming the accident was caused by "weapon misfire". I was thankful for that, but apparently the FBI were coming soon to confiscate their ghost hunting licenses, and much of their equipment. This honestly broke my heart...ghost hunting was their lives. It was important for them to spread ghost awareness and protect people from danger. They loved the science of it and they loved the adventure. It was their whole world, and it was mine too.

But it was also their demise. The FBI confiscating everything...it was probably for the best. I couldn't imagine them ghost hunting ever again after what happened to me.

Sam held my hand when my parents arrived with my body. I thought she was upset at first, but then I realized _I_ was shaking and she was holding my hand to make _me_ feel better.

My family exited the car, Dean and my pregnant sister first, my parents following behind. When my eyes fell on my mom and dad's faces, I couldn't look away. I felt like I was dying again, seeing the utter despair and agony in their faces. My mother was pale and looked physically ill, her cheeks sunken in and small body swallowed by a trench coat. My father had lost weight, his entire head of hair graying, the usual twinkle in his eyes completely diminished. I was falling to pieces while Sam gripped my hand; if it weren't for her, I don't think I would've stayed.

Somewhere the song "Danny Boy" was playing on a fiddle, while some guy who literally sounded like Josh Groban sang the lyrics. Who picked this song and why? Why would they choose something so heartbreakingly solemn, so hauntingly beautiful, why would they choose _this_ to be played?

I was crying. This song always made me cry. Always. And I wasn't crying for me. I wasn't crying for the dead man in the casket.

I was crying for _them_.

I was crying for anyone who had to feel this pain, the loss of someone they loved.

I was crying for everyone who ever heard this song, anywhere for any reason, that made them feel whatever they did.

I was crying for everyone who had lived, died, and had yet to be born. Because as hard as it was to live...life was an incredible ride we couldn't take for granted.

I didn't stop crying until after people dispersed and the groundskeepers started shoveling the dirt. I squeezed Val and Tucker's shoulders wordlessly, letting them know I was thankful to them for coming. As they walked away, I touched Sam's face, kissing her lightly on the lips. She still couldn't see me, but she knew I was there and that was all that mattered. A droplet of rain bounced off her coat as the sky began to darken.

"I need to go back to the Ghost Zone." I whispered to her.

"Okay." She whispered back, her swollen eyes staring at the ground. I tilted her chin up and stroked her cheek. She smirked. "I love you, Danny."

I sighed and kissed her again. "I love you, Sam."

I floated upward, forcing myself to find a different song to get stuck in my head. As I picked up speed, I chose a tune to focus on, and as I flew up toward the clouds I thought about how invigorated I felt in this moment. Ironic, under the current circumstances. I hummed along to my aimless song while rain began to pelt my face. It felt good to feel the icy sting and the wind blowing my hair back while I soared higher and higher.

I closed my eyes, feeling the air tighten as I entered a different atmosphere. I was entering my own meditative state, and I felt the tear in reality begin to open itself to me. I heard the air around me rip, preparing to send me to the Ghost Zone.

I shot into the portal, the cold wind being replaced by the thin air of the ghost world, the tear closing behind me. There was no time to be afraid, as much as I couldn't help feeling that way. I wouldn't give up until all my options were laid out before me. I had choices to make. People didn't get second chances like I did, and there were reasons for that, but I needed to take advantage of it. If it meant I could fix everything, then I was willing to fight.

I was more determined, more motivated than _ever_ before, to live.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

The songs for this chapter and its theme are "Danny Boy" (whatever rendition that appeals to you) and "Goodbye Forever" by Volbeat.

This chapter was difficult to write because so much of it came from my soul. I think everyone can relate to Danny's thoughts and feelings here, whether it was a tough time in your lives, or you had a bad day, or maybe there was just a moment where you had a revelation. There's a little bit of Danny in every one of us, and if not him, then we manage to relate to a special character who impacts us.

Happy New Year, and may all of you open a new door to the next chapter of your lives, a door that will bring you great things.

 _~RyJones_


	7. Facing Rooks

**A/N:**

Ready for the next chapter? Because here it is.

Made with love. Also, here's a smut warning.

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

As usual, Clockwork was expecting me. Sometimes I wondered if that feeling I got whenever I needed to go back to the Ghost Zone was actually him summoning me or something. Maybe we had some kind of link now that I was all-ghost. Could all ghosts do that? I'd have to ask him.

"Welcome home, Daniel." Clockwork said warmly, fidgeting with a monitor and control panel in the far corner of the main room.

 _Home_...that's what this place was. CW's home was mine now, too. That's what that tug felt like- it was as if he were calling me back home.

"I'm assuming you have news?" I floated over to where he stood messing around with his device. "What are you doing?"

"Reviewing time, my boy." He said proudly. "I can see everything in my head, but this will allow us to process moments and store them in this machine so we can access them whenever we need to."

The monitor hummed to life. I crossed my arms, looking up at it. "Where did you even find this thing?"

"Thank Nicolai Technus." Clockwork leaned back and stared proudly at his new toy. "The man might be out of his damn mind, but he can come in handy once in a while."

A million colored dots suddenly appeared on the screen, filling the monitor with blinding specks of light. "What are those?" I asked CW, stepping back.

"Moments." He said softly, almost in awe of the sheer idea of it. "All moments, in all places, in all different times- all here on this computer."

"Wow..." I muttered, trying to understand the magnitude of what I was looking at.

"Before you ask me any more questions," CW began, lifting an eyebrow at me, "I'm going to explain why this is here...now that we know Dark Dan is free, the only way we're going to find him is by using this machine. Technus has provided us with the necessary technology that will help us find out where he has been, where he'll be, and what he has done..." He paused and aged a hundred years. "...or will do."

I rubbed my forehead. It made sense why Clockwork would... _invest_ in something like this. It was kind of sad, really- the master of all time needed a machine to access time. I knew it was because my alter ego was fucking everything up, fucking it up so much that the _MASTER OF ALL TIME_ needed help. It was all so confusing; I never understood the time-space continuum, nor did I think I ever would. And for the first time ever, Clockwork himself found a loophole in his all-knowing-ness.

He could see how my gears were obviously turning and tapped his staff on my shoulder to bring me out of my thoughts. "I know it's a lot to process, Danny. But we're one step closer to figuring things out." He turned middle-aged, then leaned over the machine again. "I hope."

I sighed heavily and nodded. "Okay. So what did the Observants say?"

I saw CW's hands twitch into fists. He grumbled. "Don't get me started, I've only just simmered down from my 'talk' with them."

"What happened?"

"They play games, you see." CW faced me and his brows furred. "They think they can do whatever they want. No...they know they can do whatever they want, and they play and they play until they see what they wish to see."

"Did they set Dark Dan free?" I practically whispered, appalled that the higher forces would be that dastardly. The Observants weren't good or evil; they did they're job as protectors of time. So far, I believed they'd done alright. I wouldn't know any different anyway. There was usually a reason for everything they did.

"I'm not sure, but I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that in order to get their way."

I swallowed hard. "But what _is_ their 'way'?" I asked. "Did they want me dead? Why else would they set free their own enemy? What could they possibly gain as a result?"

Clockwork rubbed his temples, squeezing his eyes shut. "They don't want you dead. I know that for a fact. If they did, they could've killed you whenever they wanted. They wouldn't have risked freeing the most evil spirit that ever existed. They know you're supposed to be alive." He glanced at me. "But they won't deny-or admit- to freeing Dark Dan. If it was their plan to do so, it has to _because_ of something."

"But _what_?"

"Damnit, Danny, I have no idea!" He exclaimed, startling me slightly. He instantly composed himself. "Sorry. It's just exhausting to think about. Absolutely _exhausting_. And I'm a ghost, I'm already lifeless." He shook his head. "Maybe they want to actually destroy him, dispose of his spirit, better than just trapping him in a thermos and locked up room. I really don't know."

I sighed again, pursing my lips. "Do they know about Technus's machine?"

CW nodded. "They hope we find him as much as we do."

"What did they say about me?" I had to know...if CW didn't know, the Observants had to.

He looked at me sadly, his head tilting. It was as if he were pitying me, and I didn't like it or the way it made me feel. I never liked pity from others. Sympathy, yes. Pity...no one needs that.

"You are dead, Daniel. You know this, I know this...the universe knows this." Clockwork hesitated before putting his hand on my shoulder. He patted me awkwardly. "The Observants say if we can find Dark Dan and dispose of him, maybe it'll reverse the effects of his existence. Maybe we'll be able to fix time and make it the way it is supposed to be."

I frowned heavily, a sickening feeling twisting in my chest. "Maybe." I said quietly. "Maybe doesn't mean _shit_." I tugged my shoulder away from him.

"Well, 'maybe' is better than what you had before." Clockwork straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest. "Before I visited the Observants, you didn't even have 'maybe'. You weren't 'maybe' dead. You weren't 'maybe' going to come back. You _are_ dead. You _aren't_ going to come back. Not unless we take this 'maybe' and do something about it." He turned back to the monitor and started pressing buttons. "So as far as I'm concerned, 'maybe' is the best thing we've got right now."

I knew he was right. I just wanted to hear some definite's. I wanted to know I didn't need to go to the other side, that I could get a second chance to live and become someone and marry Sam and have kids and grow old. But all I had to go on, all I had to keep me hoping...was a "maybe".

And if there was one thing I knew, one thing I had right now that was a "definite"...it was the "maybe" CW found.

"Thanks, Clockwork." I said. "For...keeping my head on straight."

He looked over at me and smirked. "You lived only a quarter of a lifetime, Daniel. You're young and you need guidance, even in the next life. I am here to provide that."

Suddenly, I heard distant yelling. My ear twitched in the direction of where it came from, and I spun around in time to see Vlad Masters, in the flesh, screaming as he fell through CW's portal onto the floor.

He growled, getting to his knees and rubbing his bruising chin. "Is there a reason you intruded on my dinner-for-one and yanked me into the Ghost Zone without warning?!"

Clockwork continued to fiddle with his machine, never once turning around. "Technically, the intrusion is yours, if you think about how you came stumbling into _my_ home-"

"-Oh shut it," Vlad said, glaring at me as I snickered behind my hand, "I'm not going to allow you to get 'technical' with me." Vlad stood and brushed his black suit off. "Why did you summon me?"

"We have work to do, Plasmius." Clockwork said, "You can finish your lonely dinner when I don't need your assistance anymore."

Vlad transformed into his ghost half and rolled his shoulders. "I suppose I have some time. Catch me up."

CW turned to me. "Plasmius and I are going to figure out the mechanics on this...time grid." He nodded to himself, as if to approve of the name he gave his toy. "In the meantime, you can visit with friends and family, you can stay here and rest, you can roam the ghost zone- whatever you like. There's nothing you need to do right now."

I gave CW a thumbs-up and headed for the portal Vlad came tumbling through. As I started to climb inside, Clockwork shouted, "But do _not_ go looking for _him_!"

He was referring to Dark Dan. I rolled my eyes, ignoring his request and I dove into the portal, flying straight and fast.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I considered actually looking for him, to be perfectly honest. Okay, I didn't just consider...I flew around Amity Park a little bit, scanning the night skies for anything out of the ordinary. I really wanted to get to the bottom of all of this. I hated waiting...waiting was the worst thing. Next to the unknown.

I flew above a rock concert in the park where a band was covering Three Days Grace over to the docks by Egon Bay. I landed lightly onto the wooden planks and listened to the water from the ocean lapping the sides of the beams. The moon was bright and full again. That could only mean...a month must've passed since I'd been gone.

A whole _month_.

"Christ." I groaned, running my hands down my face. They went up to my hair and I walked over to the edge of the dock. I slowly sat down, allowing my legs to dangle over the side. They swung back and forth and my hands fell into my lap.

It had only been a few days for me since the accident. But it had been over a month for everyone else. Had it even _been_ only a month? What if this was the third full moon since my death? Or the fourth?

As a ghost, time was eluding me. There is no concept of time when you're dead.

At least I felt like myself. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to get used to being all-ghost. But it was easy...being dead. It was so easy. Easier than I imagined, really. I felt light as air. Nothing could hurt me, I could come and go as I pleased. I could fly all I wanted, for as long as I wanted. I had eternity to be who and whatever I wanted to be.

It was easier being all-ghost than half-ghost, and easier being all-ghost than being human.

I leaned over the dock, allowing myself to float over the water. As I glided over the calm ripples, I rotated onto my back, staring at the bright, midnight sky. I thought about how I wasn't someone who ever gave up. Of course, easy and simple wasn't what I wanted. "Easy" wasn't going to bring me back, and "easy" wasn't going to find Dark Dan. "Easy" isn't what life is about. The challenge in life is what makes it the greatest adventure, makes the ending all worth it. It is the reason people keep going...the reason they _live_. So that's why I wasn't taking the "easy" way out. I didn't want "easy", and "easy" wasn't meant for me.

I turned over again, staring down at the ocean water of Egon Bay, letting my gloved fingertips break the surface. I dragged my hand along the water and dipped them into the ripples. It was kind of cold but not in an uncomfortable way.

It was dark all of a sudden. I glanced over at where the reflection of the moon was, but it was blocked by a shadow.

As I turned around to see who was flying above me, I was blasted by a hot, green beam of light, and then I was underwater.

I curled up and clutched my stomach, crying out under the sea, but all that came out of me were muffled bubbles. I landed on the sandy bottom and I pushed off with my feet, shooting up out of the water to fight my opponent. The song from the park was deafeningly loud and I spun around, frantically trying to find the source of the attack.

"I'll be damned," The shadow said. I recognized him immediately...like looking at my own evil reflection. "You've grown a hell of a lot since the last time I saw you, _Danny_."

I flew up to his level, my heart pounding furiously in my chest. "You _goddamned_ son of a _bitch_!" I blasted a ball of ecto-energy his way and he dodged it with ease, his cape whipping in the wind.

"Don't talk about our mother that way," he sneered, "I see your aim hasn't improved, either."

I let out a cry and blasted repeatedly, carelessly. I wanted him gone. I thought he _was_ gone, all this time. I was seeing red, furiously trying to use my rage as a weapon. But he effortlessly evaded every punch I threw, and laughed when I'd finally stopped, my hands smoking from the power.

"Simmer down, _champ_." He chuckled. "Speaking of 'champ', you were just a little _chimp_ the last time we saw one another."

I panted and clenched my fists. "A fourteen year old chimp who trapped your ass in a lunch container."

He roared with laughter again. "That's not the last time I saw you. Just a few hours ago I was watching you sleep- little infant you, sleeping so soundly." He scratched his white goatee. "I was contemplating suffocating you with your stuffed Jack Fenton doll."

"You wouldn't have, though." I crossed my arms. "That would end your miserable existence."

I must've been full of jokes tonight, because he doubled over in laughter again. "You idiot. I could kill you in any time, any place, and it wouldn't do shit to me." He put his hands behind his head, floating on his back. "Man, you're...what?...twenty-one years old, and you're still don't know shit. Shit for brains. That's what you are."

My nostrils flared. "So why didn't you just do it then? Why didn't you end me when you had the shot?"

He straightened up, flying over to me and getting in my face. "Because I have a plan." His tongue flicked out, licking one of his fangs. "I exist out of the time stream, therefore I'm no longer you. I'm not Dan Phantom." He opened his arms and grinned. "I no longer exist because of you. I'm _my own_ being."

I wasn't sure if this would make him easier or harder to defeat. I could no longer prevent his existence...there was no past or future where he existed anymore. He _was_ his own being.

He turned his back to me. "I was thinking about changing my name." He said casually, "Maybe to something like...The Ripper. First name 'The', last name 'Ripper'. Something crazy violent, you know?" Dark Dan turned back to me and winked. "Whatever instills fear in others."

"You'll never get that far." I hissed. "We have a plan, too."

" _We?_ Who? You, Clockwork and the fruitloop with his cat?!" He placed his hands on his hips. "Clockwork's always meddling. You know when you fell out of that tree in sixth grade and didn't break your arm?" He glanced at his own arm than back at me. "That was him. Meddling. _Always_ meddling."

"So is this the part where you tell me your 'master plan', The?" I said, tensing up as he cracked his knuckles.

"I've got nothing to hide. But I do love games." He narrowed his piercing red eyes at me. "You're just a pawn in my little chess match." His eyes lit up then. " _Rooks_. That's what I want to be called. Rooks."

"Ha!" I laughed humorlessly, "If you think I'm going to play your little 'game', then maybe you're more of a pawn than a rook."

"Oh, Danny." He multiplied himself so that two Dans- or two Rooks- floated before me. "Danny, Danny, Danny." He multiplied again...and again. I found myself surrounded. "You're already _playing_."

He inhaled then and I knew what was coming.

I shot myself up and over his duplicates, then aimed an ectoplasm beam at all of the clones just as they blew each other away with their ghostly wails. They disappeared one by one until Rooks remained. I fired beams of ectoplasm at him and he fired back with similar speed.

"I'm glad you don't want to be 'Dan' anymore," I shouted, flying around one of his energy orbs. "It was the last connection to sever between us. We're no longer one in the same."

One of my shots hit him square in the chest and he cried out. He rubbed the spot, glaring at me for the first time that night. "You can't run from this, kid. Everything that happens to you now...I want you to know it's me who's doing it."

He lunged at me with warp speed, grasping me around the neck and strangling me, shaking me violently. It _hurt_. _Why does it hurt so bad? It shouldn't hurt this bad-_

He threw me into the water then, and I saw him grin evilly as I splashed through the surface. I suddenly felt how cold the ocean actually was.

I hit the sea floor and held my neck, screaming, more out of sheer rage and despair than fear or pain. Again only muffled bubbles exited my mouth. I inhaled water and screamed again. Over and over until I felt my body become heavy with water that filled me. I turned intangible, allowing it to seep out of me, then pushed myself up towards the surface.

My head bobbed in the water and I looked up at the now empty sky. My darker self was gone... _Rooks_. Rooks was gone.

I swam over toward the docks, hoisting myself up onto them. I felt weakened by this fight, coughing up the remaining water in my lungs as I climbed onto dry land. I shakily rose to my feet, gripping the sides of my head, smacking myself as if it would wake me from this nightmare.

"Fuck!" I shouted. "Fuck! FUCK!" I kicked the side of a nearby warehouse, punching it like it would make me feel better.

I knew it could be true...that he was back and ready to make time his bitch. But I couldn't imagine it, I didn't even picture it, I didn't want to believe it might be real.

It was real...god, it was _so_ real and he was unstoppable and I had no idea what he was planning. I was dead and even in the afterlife he was dragging me to hell with him.

This was all so very real now.

"I just want it to end." I moaned to no one in particular, putting my forehead against the cool warehouse wall. "Please make it stop, _please_."

What was I going to do now?

"Fuck." I whispered one last time.

I leapt into the air and headed into the direction of Sam's house. I needed a distraction from all this godforsaken madness. I didn't care what time it was or what day or month it was...I needed to see her.

I flew through the sky, the wind biting my skin as followed the road to her place. I sped past windows, some with lights on, some with off. I wondered how many people could see the ghost boy flying around whenever I came to the human world. I didn't always remember to keep myself unseen. Nor did I really give enough shits to do so.

I reached Sam's bedroom window on the top floor. The curtains were closed and I floated up to the glass, tapping on the window pane. Not a minute later, the curtains pulled back, my violet-eyed beauty staring up at me, wearing nothing but my space t-shirt. She smiled sadly, then moved to unlatch the window. The second it opened, I flew into her room, landing lightly on my feet, and she closed the window behind me.

"Danny," She said, turning around, "I'm happy you-"

I didn't give her a chance to finish whatever the hell she was going to say. I rushed up to her, wrapping my arms around her slender form and pressed my mouth to hers, pushing her up against her dresser. It bumped into the wall and left a mark in the dark, maroon paint.

Her hands slid to my hair and her fingers tangled around in it as she kissed me fiercely. I clutched her to me, afraid of what she'd say if I stopped, but I had to come up for air. I released her mouth and kissed down her jawline, her neck, then to her shoulder.

"Danny!" She breathed through gasps. "What's wrong...why are...you...here...?"

I trailed my tongue up her throat to her ear and she moaned loudly. I pressed myself against her, moving my hands to her hips.

"Is it okay if we don't talk about it yet?" I whispered, inhaling her lavender-spring scented hair. "I'm here to be with you."

She didn't respond and her mouth found mine, her fists clenching the front of my jumpsuit. I felt her fingers move up my chest toward the zipper at the base of my neck and I slid my hand over her bare thigh. Her tongue dipped into my mouth my hand shot up to her ass on impulse. She opened her eyes to look at me- hot damn, those sultry _bedroom_ eyes- and nipped my bottom lip, slowly pulling my zipper down.

"Are we really gonna do this?" She whispered to me, a sexy little smile playing on her lips. I nodded and she pulled the zipper the rest of the way down speedily. She pushed my jumpsuit back, helping my arms out and pulled it down to my hips. I simultaneously pulled the space shirt up over her head, pecking her briefly as I threw it to the floor. Other than black lace panties, she was completely exposed in front of me, and I grabbed the sides of her face and our mouths crashed together.

I had never seen Sam naked before. Of course, I had thought about it, fantasized about it, imagining what she looked like. What she felt like. I never stopped crushing on her, and when I started to realize my feelings developed into more than just a crush, it became harder to be around her without thinking about her that way. I would notice her legs in her miniskirts. I would watch when she'd cross one over the other whenever we sat next to each other. I always paid attention to her when she spoke and heard everything she ever said to me, but I wanted her mouth on mine all the time.

Now my literal fantasies were coming true.

Her breasts pressed against my chest as she pushed me toward her bed. I backed up against it and sat onto the mattress, my mouth trailing down between her cleavage down to her stomach. She pressed my shoulders gently so I'd lay on the bed, and I scooted back so she could climb on with me. She straddled my hips while I kicked my jumpsuit down and off my legs, and my hands climbed up her back and into her hair.

She wrapped her legs around my waist and allowed me to have access to her neck. She was breathing heavily and I didn't think it was possible to get more turned on by her. I moaned into her neck, loving the feeling of her skin on my skin, moving a hand to her chest and palming each breast individually. I slid my hands up her throat and held her face again as goosebumps rose on her arms.

I looked into her eyes. I hoped she knew I wasn't doing this just to...do it. I wanted her, so bad. For maybe seven years I wanted her. I wanted to be _with_ her.

I ran my nose over hers, then kissed her slowly. I slipped my tongue into her mouth softly, closing my eyes as my undead soul came alive. My own goosebumps raised from how warm her skin was, and I wondered if I felt cold to her.

She moved to take off the remaining article of clothing she had on. I scooted back against her pillows, resting my head against her wrought iron headboard, watching her. She climbed back onto me, then kicked my boxers off with her feet as I shimmied out of them. I was exposed to her now, my bare skin touching hers. My pulse quickened with anticipation and she grinned at me seductively.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and eased into her, slowly at first, until I couldn't get any deeper. "Sam..." I groaned, my mouth hovering in front of hers, barely touching. I grinded into her gently. She sighed, her eyes rolling into her head, like she'd been waiting for this just as long as I had. I groaned against her lips again, picking up speed. She whined quietly in my mouth, her eyes piercing mine for a moment before she squeezed them shut. I gripped her hips now, bucking in and out of her as she moved in sync with my body.

 _God she feels so good..._

"God- _damn_." I moaned, picking her up and rolling us so she was on her back. I thrusted into her repeatedly, pressing my body down to hers as her legs wrapped around me.

"Danny..." She whimpered, her nails clawing at my back, causing me to move faster. I loved hearing her say my name that way, because it meant I was making her feel good. She said it again, once, twice more. I couldn't get enough of her and how my name sounded when it passed through her lips. Like she needed more of me.

Beads of sweat slid down my spine and my white hair was falling in my face. I wanted to keep going...but I needed to slow down before I let myself go too soon. I slowed my pace, dipping in and out, feeling every movement and every part of her as if I were on an constant high. I lowered myself onto her, my chest, stomach, thighs pressing against hers. I slid one hand up her chest and into her hair, and I rested my opposite arm above her head on the pillow.

The room was silent other than our mixed breathing and her tiny gasps every time I entered her. My ghostly pulse slowed and I could feel hers slowing with mine. She looked into my eyes, tilting her head and kissing my mouth softly.

"Sam..." I said, tracing a circle on her cheek with my thumb. "You're so beautiful...so _fucking_ beautiful."

She bit her bottom lip and I felt her clench around me, making me buck slightly. She moaned and kissed me hard. "You always made me feel beautiful, Danny." She grinded her hips against mine, wiggling beneath me, indicating she wanted to start up again. "Please don't stop..."

That was all the confirmation I needed. I slid my hands into hers and interlaced our fingers, pressing them to the mattress as I proceeded to pick up speed. She looked up at me through her long eyelashes, watching me as I thrusted. I panted heavily, my temperature hot and cold all over, feeling myself tense up as I neared my own climax.

"Sam I don't think I can-"

"- _Don't_ stop...!" She gasped as she tightened around me, holding her breath, her abs flexing beneath me. She was close and I had to hold out to get her there.

 _Just a bit more..._

Sam cried out my name and her walls pulsated around me as she orgasmed. The intense sensation was enough for my own release and I collapsed on top of her, my hips twitching against her. Never had I ever felt anything so amazing, so intimate. And I got to do it with her. I couldn't have imagined this any other way...it was perfect. She was perfect. And she was mine.

I brushed a strand of her black hair out of her eyes. "Sam...I love you."

She smirked, breathing in and out slowly through the gap between her lips. "I love you, Danny. Always have...and I always will."

I smiled broadly and kissed her forehead. I pulled away from her, shifting onto my side and facing her. She turned her head to me, her cheeks pink.

"So..." I said quietly, my face growing warm. "No one's home, right?"

Sam laughed, her eyes squinting at me. "Nah, my parent's are at the lake house this weekend."

I blew out a breath. "Thank hell." I rested my cheek in my hand and leaned on my elbow, looking down at her. "I figured you wouldn't be as... _expressive_...if they were home."

Sam grabbed a pillow and threw it at me as I grinned cockily. She rolled off of the bed and stretched, giving me plenty to look at, before smirking coyly. "I'm going to go shower. Don't you dare leave. I don't do one-night stands, Fenton." She picked my space t-shirt off the carpet and tugged it over her head before walking across the floor to her bathroom. I watched her ass until she closed the door behind it.

I laid down on my stomach, hugging one of her pillows in my arms. I snuggled my face into it, closing my eyes. For the first time since I'd died, I felt tired. _Really_ tired. I thought maybe it was from the events that had transpired today. Yes, it had been a month for everyone else, but to me it was days. Maybe even one whole day, all four weeks packed into twenty-four hours.

I yawned. I guess even ghosts had their limits sometimes.

I heard Sam humming softly in the shower. It was a familiar, light little tune, something that carried contentment. The perfect pitch of her voice lulled me, made my entire body and soul relax as if I had nothing to fear or worry about. I felt at home, lying here in her bed, listening to her sing. I wished all of this- this night I spent with her- happened under better circumstances. But I could only move forward from here and keep fighting to come back.

I opened my eyes and moved off the bed. I walked to her bathroom, quietly opening the door and shutting it behind me. I could see Sam, still humming, behind the steamed glass doors of her shower, every curve of her body reminding me of how she felt against me. As I headed over to join her, I caught my reflection in the mirror. I wiped a circle of steam away with my fist.

I had changed a lot over the years. I always saw myself as the lanky teenage kid that had to grow up too fast and save lives at the age of fourteen. But looking in the mirror right now was strange to me. I looked like a grown man...a grown man who had seen too much. I aged a million years since I'd become a ghost. I ran a hand through my snowy white hair, blinking my blue eyes that stood out so much against the white.

I just wanted to be back to my old self again.

I turned away from my reflection and opened the shower door. Sam was facing the shower head, basking in the hot water, and I slid my hands around her hips. She backed up against me, her arms holding mine in place. I lowered my forehead to her shoulder and shut my eyes again.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

It was well-before dawn when I woke up next to Sam. Through the crack in the curtains, I could see pinks and purples in the night sky. It had to be around four a.m., maybe five.

My cheek was hot, pressed against Sam's stomach. I had laid down with my arms around her and head on her chest while she played with my hair until I fell asleep. It felt good to sleep, even though I didn't need it, and sleeping with her was all I could possibly want.

I was awakened by the feeling of being called. I knew it was Clockwork...I could feel it. There was a sense of desperation in my chest, like I needed to get back immediately. I cringed at the sensation in me. I had to go...now.

I lifted my head to look at Sammy sleeping so soundly. I didn't want to wake her, but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Just in case another month passed by without me realizing while I was in the Ghost Zone.

"Sam..." I whispered, sliding my arms out from under her. "Sam, wake up."

She stirred, her face wrinkling in annoyance. She popped a sleepy eye open and frowned. "You know I'm not an early riser."

"I have to go, Sam." I said, lifting myself up and leaning over her. "I have to get back to the Ghost Zone."

She sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it? Why?" Her bottom lip quivered and it made my heart swell with sadness. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know," I said, answering all three of her questions. "I wish I did..."

She wiped her eyes, which had begun to glisten. She shook her head as if she could shake the tears away. She inhaled deeply. "You _will_ be back though?"

"Yes. I promise." I took her face in my hands, staring into her eyes. "I promise."

Her hands covered mine and she nodded. "I love you, Danny."

I kissed her long and hard. But the urgency to leave was growing and I really had to get back. I broke my lips from hers and slid out of bed. I snatched my jumpsuit and undergarments off the floor and quickly dressed. As I zipped up the front of my jumpsuit, I went over to Sam one last time.

"I love you, Sam." I pecked her on the lips. "Thank you for loving me. And for last night." I kissed away tears dripping down her face. "You're unfathomably sexy."

She giggled through her sorrow and petted my hair. "Get out of here, Boy Wonder."

I grinned at her, kissing her a final time before turning intangible. I phased through her window and shot into the sky like a bullet, exiting this world and entering the one I now called home.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

When I entered Clockwork's citadel, I was not greeted as usual.

CW and Vlad were yelling at each other, arguing about something I couldn't understand. Technus's machine was going haywire while they pressed buttons and tried to share custody of the main control panel. I felt something brush against my leg and I cried out, startled by the unfamiliar movement. I glanced down and saw a scrawny little white cat with a collar. She meowed and purred as she rubbed against my boots. I knelt down and read the gold name tag: "Maddie" and Vlad's Wisconsin home address.

"Why is your cat here, Vlad?" I asked, interrupting the two shouting men. They both turned to me with eyebrows raised.

"Well I couldn't very well leave her at home now, could I?" Plasmius crossed his arms and shook his head. "I can't go home to feed her if I have no concept of what day it is."

I pet the cat for a moment then stood. "What are you two arguing about?"

"Plasmius believes Dark Dan is hiding somewhere in your past," CW grumbled, "But I strongly suggest we start searching the future. It is a broader area and provides us more places to find-"

"-That is exactly the problem, Clockwork!" Vlad cut in. "The future is _too_ broad! We'll never find him, we need to narrow our searches to the past twenty-one years of Danny's life so that we can-"

"-Listen, Cat-man," CW jabbed his staff at Vlad, "I'm not going to sit here and let you tell me how to do _my_ job!"

"You aren't doing a very good _job_ at your _job!_ "

"Both of you, be quiet!" I yelled. Their mouths snapped shut and I rolled my eyes. "I know where he is. Or at least where he was, anyway."

"What?" Clockwork said incredulously. "Didn't I tell you not to go searching for-"

"-I didn't go searching for him!" I threw my hands up in frustration. "He found me in Amity Park. He attacked me, roughed me up, blabbed on about some big plans he has, then took off." I grimaced. "He's calling himself 'Rooks' now. He's his own monster."

"I'll be damned." Clockwork said, glancing at Vlad and rubbing the back of his hooded head. "Did he give any indication of what the plans were?"

I shrugged. "He wasn't specific. He talked about how the three of us are all part of his plan, that we're already 'playing' parts in it." I dragged my hands down my face. "He told me he wants me to know he's intentionally ruining my existence. My guess is he's probably aiming for world domination and making me pay for trapping him in the Fenton Thermos for supposed eternity. But, hey, that's the worst case scenario."

Vlad released an exasperated sigh. "That gets us no where, we aren't even one step closer to finding the menace. And his steps are only progressing while we sit here trying to figure him out!"

"He was in my bedroom when I was an infant," I continued, clenching my fists. "He could've killed me then and he said he could kill me in any time or place if he wanted to. But he doesn't want to, because that's not part of his plan."

Clockwork's red eyes widened. "That's enough of a lead to get us started." He spun around to face the time grid, pushing Vlad away from the control panel. "This narrows our search to your first year. If we can find the moment Rooks arrived in your room all those years ago, we can figure out where he's going next, or where he's been after that."

"I told you we should start in the past," Vlad muttered, his mouth snapping shut when he saw CW glaring his way.

I didn't care where we started as long as we started somewhere. There was a flicker of hope that we could go after Rooks and stop him before anything terrible happened, or time was altered beyond repair. Clockwork and Vlad were already on the monitor and searching through my past for him. We were finally playing the game.

That hope, that "maybe", was the only thing I had to hold on to.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

The songs of choice for this lovely lengthy chapter were "Time of Dying" by Three Days Grace and "Amanda's Song" by Jason Koiter.

Hope you enjoyed. And I hope you all had a chance to see the DP and Fairly Odd Parents crossover short, as well as the behind the scenes of making it. (David Kaufman shouted **"I'm going ghost!"** at the top of his lungs had me hysterical!)

Until the next chapter.

 _~RyJones_


	8. Lost Soul

**A/N:**

Hello, my adoring readers! Back with another chapter. I told the readers of my other fanfic that I have been keeping a posting schedule for my stories: a chapter every other month (example: one fanfic chapter posted January, the other gets posted February, then the January one gets March, and so on). So far the schedule has worked out and I've been able to deliver long, quality chapters for both current running stories. Hope this all works for you! I don't want to keep you waiting, but I want to keep you all happy and satisfied.

And so without further ado...

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I clutched the time medallion hanging around my neck as the three of us entered the year I was born. It was incredible to exist in a time period I was so unaware of as an infant, be in a world I didn't yet know. I could see cars driving on the streets that would be considered junk now, giant boxes that were the cell phones of this decade, and the clothing...well, I guess the clothing was similar to present day, considering nothing was "out of style" anymore.

I had traveled to the past before when Sam, Tucker and Vlad were sick with Ecto-Acne. I had visited my parents and Vlad back when they were all in college, and I had chased Rooks through time when he was still Dan Phantom, so I was used to the idea of time traveling in general. But this was different; I was already alive in this time period. It was mind boggling to know that on this day twenty-one years ago, I was a human child, with no thoughts or worries or fears. My brain was incapable of knowing all the things I knew today. My infant self was safe from the world. And one day, he would become the man I am right now...the man I was before I died. It just completely blew me away.

It was the middle of the night in Amity Park. CW, Vlad and I were all visible to human eyes, which I questioned. Why weren't we turning invisible? But...it didn't appear as though anyone could actually see us.

"How come no one is running away and screaming in terror at the sight of us?" I asked Clockwork.

"This is just before the beginning of the real discovery of the spirit world." Clockwork answered, looking over his shoulder at me. "People during this time only think of ghosts as fictional folklore, myth, theory. There hasn't been much research and scientific discovery of ghosts yet. They can't see us because their minds aren't _aware_ of our existence. Not until the science emerges...then their third eye awakens."

"Huh." I said, wondering how people like my parents managed to get their "third" eyes.

We arrived at Fenton Works. The lights were all off and the house was definitely asleep.

"Which one is your room?" Vlad asked, glancing at me.

I floated over to a window on the top floor, pressing my face against the glass. There I was...baby Danny, sound asleep in a crib, a stuffed doll modeled after my father resting at my tiny, black-haired head. A mobile of light-up ghosts turned in a relaxing way over my bed, making ghostly, shadowy shapes float around in a rotating circle across the walls.

"How do we know which day Rooks came, or will come?" I asked, prying my eyes away from my old room.

"I can sense what has been changed during this year..." Clockwork reverted to a child-like state. "I can smell something, and I can taste it. This day has not yet been tainted..." He tilted his head, looking at my home. "But I do know which day has." He waved his staff and opened a traveling portal. "Come."

Vlad and I exchanged glances before following him into the portal, traveling to a different time yet again. When we ripped into another day, the sun was shining, opposite of the night time we'd just left behind. I shielded my eyes, blinded by the brightness.

"When are we now?" I put my hand on my hip.

CW turned middle-aged and crossed his arms. "A tainted day. Rooks is here."

I chewed my lip and Vlad looked around, slightly panicked. "How? How is he here when he was already here?"

"Time is a marvelous and chaotic thing, isn't it?" CW smiled at Vlad and it made me a little pissed off. This wasn't a joke...there was no time to be "wowed" by time and science.

"What do we do? Why hasn't he left if he has already done the damage?" I asked, changing the subject.

Clockwork motioned for us to follow him. We flew away from Fenton Works and in the direction of the park in town. I huffed, unable to hide my irritation; CW couldn't help but be vague and mysterious. He couldn't just answer my damn questions.

Vlad must've been thinking what I was feeling. "Clockwork," He sighed, flying up beside the master of time, "How are we supposed to work together if you don't answer our questions?"

"If you both shut up, I will explain everything as we go." CW said calmly. "Rooks being here is what has tainted this day. What he intended on doing hasn't happened yet. We can stop him if we find him."

 _Stop him?_ "How are we going to do that?" I asked, "It's not like we have a Fenton Thermos handy...not that it kept him in before." I added before Vlad could remark.

We floated over the park, which was busy with citizens. We hovered over the fountain, surveying the people below. CW turned to me, "I can send him back to the citadel if you are able to weaken him. If we can get him back into his original cell, at least we can trap him temporarily until we figure out how to fix things, and possibly erase him from existence."

"Sounds like a messy plan," I said, scratching the back of my head. "But it's a plan, I guess. I don't know how I'm going to weaken him enough-"

"-Danny, you don't give yourself enough credit." CW rolled his red eyes. "You never have, and in the future, you still don't. You are capable of so much more than you think."

"Oh please." Vlad muttered. "Let's get on with it then."

"Rooks said the last time he 'saw' me was in my room while I was sleeping in my crib," I crossed my arms. "Why are we here, right now, when he told me where he actually was?"

CW rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. "Tonight is the night he visits you."

"How do we know that?"

"Because," Clockwork glanced at me, clearly annoyed at my constant questions, "I am starting to see the changes as they unfold. Everything he is doing...it's starting to become a part of time. A part of what I see."

Vlad inhaled sharply, "You don't mean..."

"Rooks is making permanent marks on the time stream." CW nodded in Vlad's direction. "Everything he is doing becomes a new path in the time-space continuum...so everything he touches, everything he changes...becomes a part of the balance. And I can see it as if it were always that way to begin with." He growled. "Luckily I can taste the difference...I'm not as thick as he may think I am."

I clenched my fists unintentionally. I felt my body start to shake from fury. "If his changes become permanent, then-"

"Danny, you'll stay dead. As if it were always meant to be this way." Vlad whispered.

"We need to stop him." Clockwork flew up to me, grabbing my shoulders. "We need to act now." He spun around, his eyes flickering to the ground. "You're mother has taken you to the park. Rooks is changing something today, before he visits you tonight. We need to protect your younger self and your mother from anything he might do, even the slightest, most seemingly harmless change."

"Let's split up." Vlad said, and the three of us shot in opposite directions.

The park was enormous and full of life, and usually I loved being here, but under the circumstances it made finding my infant self and youthful mother extremely difficult. I was getting dizzy from forcing my eyes to dart across the ground, feeling like I was doing a "Where's Waldo" book. I was determined to find them- us- though. There was nothing Rooks could say or do that would stop me from wanting to fix everything he'd done.

I couldn't help but thank the Universe for not letting me give up when I had the chance.

 _There!_ I spotted a familiar black and green quilted blanket and a red-headed woman sitting on top of it, holding her infant son. _Mom!_

She was playing hand games with me, singing songs, even though I was way too young to play and sing with her. I felt myself humming along, remembering her singing these little songs as I grew. As I watched her watch me, I couldn't help but feel nostalgia...and forgiveness. Knowing it wasn't really her fault... _neither_ of my parents' faults...it helped me change how the day I died happened.

Since that day, I had fallen apart, been scarred by what I thought they'd done to me: they had killed me. My _parents_ had _killed_ me. In my mind, I had suffered and ended at the hands of the two people who had given me life in the first place. There was nothing left to believe in. Nothing I could do to take back what they had done to me, and how I had lied about my ghost half to them. Everything was my fault and everything was their fault.

But now...having someone to blame...someone to _actually_ blame...it changed everything.

I sighed and ran both my hands through my white hair, thinking about what it would be like to talk to my mom right this second. What it would be like if I just swooped in now and told her everything; who I am and why I am here, what the future holds... _what_ I am. What would it be like to tell her I love her now before this past-Danny grows into someone who gets killed in some freak accident, because of some freak accident that causes him to turn half-ghost?

I was smarter than that though, and I knew better than to do something stupid like talk to her and mess up the future. And that little boy, that past version of myself playing hand games with his young mother...he was born to be half-ghost. He was born to protect others. I had seen what it would be like to have been normal, to never have ghost powers. I had lived it at one point, wishing to have never been part-ghost, and I had gotten my wish. I knew what it was like to not be me.

So I knew not to meddle or tell my mother that my infant self would grow into something she hunted. Because, despite everything that happened since the day I turned, and despite everything that happened leading up to my death...I would never change a thing. In the long run, my life was a life worth living, and it wasn't wasted. Even though I was now going through...whatever this was. Watching human infant Danny play without a care in the world and knowing who he would grow into; I was proud of who I am.

I wish I hadn't taken it all for granted.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "You've found yourself, hmm?" Clockwork.

I wiped my blurry eyes. "Seems that way."

CW gently tapped my shoulder so I would turn to look at him. "You know, I remember the day you were born, more vividly than any other birth I'd ever seen. Well, except for one, but you haven't met him yet."

I shrugged. "Of course you remember; you know everything."

CW shook his head. "Assume that I don't for a moment. Witnessing you come alive was one of the greatest things I'd ever seen. Knowing who you would become, feeling all the good you would do, how much you would change the entire world..." He looked away sheepishly and I felt my face reddening. "I wish you knew what it was like, Daniel. What it's like to see a hero be born."

"What is it like?" I inquired quietly.

"It's hard to explain." Clockwork floated closer toward my younger self and my mother so that we hovered just above them. "Let me think." He stared down at the black-haired baby below us. He then smiled briefly. "Imagine a part of outer space. Dark and spotted with tiny, unique stars, balls of energy all light years away from one another. All blending in as a part of the universe."

I smiled. I was glad he was speaking my language. "Okay."

"It's dark, it's cold. If you've been in space, you would know how vast and alone it is." He made the shape of a circle with his hands. "Now imagine this one part of space- dark and cold and vast-and a globule, weak but growing, starts to form and rotates until a nuclear reaction causes a newborn star to appear. Bright and vibrant and burning. So alive." He put his hand on my back and we both looked up at the blue sky. "The star expands and grows and glows, bringing some life to the dead universe. Like the sun bringing light to the planets of our galaxy." He sighed and shook his head. "That's what it was like to know and see and _feel_ your life."

"Hmm." I murmured, staring at a cloud that looked oddly shaped like Vlad's massive head.

CW sighed. "And that's why, child, watching you die was one of the most tragic things I had ever experienced in my existence."

I turned to Clockwork and furred my brows. "What do you mean?"

He smiled sadly. "It was an unexpected event that someone who expects everything didn't see coming. You know the process of the death of a star, yes?"

I swallowed a hard lump. "Yes."

"There is a point in time where a star's core runs out of hydrogen and helium. The star becomes less bright..." He tapped the top of his staff with his opposite hand. "And it will eventually collapse and explode. It can become a black hole...or disappear into nothing. As if it were never there." He sighed again. "That's what it was like when you died. Suddenly, you were losing your life, becoming less bright...and then you were gone."

I smiled grimly. "I didn't realize you cared so much."

"Your death didn't just impact me on a personal level, Danny." Clockwork stared hard at me. "Your death impacted the entire universe. Time and space combined. It's as if you were the center of the universe and the rest of us revolved around _you_. And I didn't realize this until after it was too late."

It meant something to me that CW felt the way he did. It felt good to know I really was needed. But...I didn't want to hear anymore. It was a lot of...weight. Heaviness. _Everything so heavy._ The world really did rest on my shoulders.

 _I wonder if I just...let go, maybe I'd be set free._

"GET OFF ME YOU OVERGROWN MAN-CHILD!"

Vlad's infuriated voice cut through the sky and CW and I spun around in time to see Vlad being flung at us.

Rooks.

In the park.

Where my mother and innocent child-self were enjoying a sunny, summer afternoon.

He cackled into the sky, his red eyes glowing in excitement.

"Dark Dan..." Clockwork lunged at my darker ex-self.

"How are you here?!" He growled and dodged CW, his hair flowing behind him like flames. He lifted his palms and formed orbs of ecto-energy, slowly turning to face me. "How-" he threw one, "Are-" he threw a second as I moved around the first, "You-" another, "Here?!"

The fourth one sliced the sleeve of my jumpsuit open, but just barely cut me. "What's wrong? You don't remember our little chat?"

Rooks flew at me and grabbed me around the neck. People below us screamed and scattered and I was thanking the universe for my mother scooping up my younger self and running for her life. I grunted and gripped Rooks around his wrists.

"You idiot." He muttered so close to my face. "You think I don't know what you're up to?"

Clockwork appeared behind Rooks, aiming his staff at my enemy's back. "Time out, Dan Phantom-!"

Rooks released one of his hands from my throat and swatted away a blue beam of light- the one that typically would freeze any being in time- deflecting the energy. "It's Rooks now, Time Lord. Dan is long dead." He turned to me and squeezed my neck. "In all senses of the name...Danny Phantom, Daniel Fenton, Dan Phantom...dead, dead, _dead_."

I let out a guttural cry and blasted him in the face with an ecto-ray. He yelped and released his hold on me. I coughed and held my neck, wishing being all-ghost meant no pain. I recovered quickly just as Vlad flew to my side. He moved his fingers, a magenta-colored light leaking from the tips. The bright neon energy formed a shield around him and I.

"Fire at will, Daniel!" Vlad shouted, and I didn't skip a beat as I fired shots at Rooks. Vlad didn't have to tell me twice.

"This is pointless, Danny!" Rooks turned and flipped over every ecto-ball I threw. He chuckled, then multiplied himself eight times with more ease than I wish I had. The clones all laugh. "No matter where you go, no matter what you do..." All of them said, surrounding CW, Vlad and I, "Everything has already been set in motion. I can only assume you and the Dream Team-" The real Rooks gestured at Vlad and Clockwork, "-are here because every version of me traveling through time is succeeding."

"Time is infinite," Clockwork, whacked one of the clones in the back of the head with his staff, "There is no where for you to go that we won't find you."

"Then you'll all be chasing me for an eternity." Real Rooks stared directly into my eyes as his clones began to fight off Vlad and CW, "Is that what you want, Danny? To chase me until everyone you love grows old and dies, leaving you no one to come back to if you stop me?"

"Fuck you!" I flew straight at Rooks, but two of his clones snagged each of my arms. I struggled against their tight grips, grunting and pulling as hard as I could. Rooks floated up to me, tendrils of his ghost sense smoking from his nose.

"You want to know what the best part is, kid?" He breathed on me and I spit on his face, right into his fire red eyes. His face contorted in fury briefly before he calmly wiped the spittle from his brow. "Even if you _do_ give up...you'll still be stuck in this Hell you've been so desperate to get out of."

I yanked myself free of the clones and wrapped my hands around Rooks's neck, flying him straight toward the ground, screaming the whole way until we crashed into the dirt. The area around us was a crater from the impact and I held my darker self down as I beat his face in.

"What is the end game?!" I bashed him in the face, my fist steaming with green energy. "Tell me!" I gripped him by the jumpsuit suit and slammed his head against the ground. He wouldn't stop laughing and it only made me feel crazier by the second. A ball of ectoplasm morphed in my palm and I held it to his face. "TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!"

CW and Vlad flew up to me, finally rid of Rooks's clones. "Danny..." CW muttered warily.

Rooks spat blood on the ground, still grinning. "You want to know what I did, Danny?" He leaned up toward my face, dangerously close. "I just made an idiot out of you... _again_." He hissed into my ear, and I growled, wailing him in the face again. He laughed throatily and said. "Checkmate."

Then, he disappeared from my hands with a _pop_.

Gone. Just like that.

"He was a clone!" I heard Vlad shout from behind me as I slowly got to my feet.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, my chest rising with rage. The Rooks I was beating the shit out of was a clone that whole time. The real Rooks had already gone...he had probably been _long_ gone.

And...he made an idiot out of me.

Again.

I looked to the sky and released the most powerful cry I could; my ghostly wail. The force pushed CW and Vlad back, uprooted trees from the ground, caused buildings to quiver and the sky to darken with storm clouds. It felt good to scream, _really_ scream. The rage in me needed to be free, I needed to let go of everything, just for a moment.

Snow began to fall from the sky as I collapsed to my knees. I was so infuriated that I had made it snow in the middle of the summer. Surely the people of Amity Park would think it was the apocalypse. It would now be tattooed on history as the day it snowed in July.

I felt two pairs of hands on either side of me, but I shrugged them off. "Don't." I said hoarsely.

Both men bent by my side. Vlad in particular kept one hand on my shoulder, refusing to let go. "We knew he wouldn't be easy to catch, Daniel."

"Rooks is cunning." CW said from my left side. "And he's stronger than ever, now that he is his own being. He's probably been planning all of this ever since we put him in that thermos to begin with."

I knew what they were saying was true, but it didn't make me feel any better, and it didn't make me feel any less stupid. "I keep letting my emotions get the best of me." I croaked, standing back up. "And he's using it to his advantage."

CW teared open a portal to the Ghost Zone and motioned for Vlad and I to follow. "We need to get back. We've accomplished something today."

The three of us stepped into the portal, and it sealed shut behind us. "What's that?" I asked.

"Now that I've seen Rooks in person," CW shot forward through the Ghost Zone and we kept at his heels, "I have a sense of him, a way to track him, if you will. A sort of taste in time that is out of place...so, I now know a better way to use Technus's machine."

We flew through the warped ghostly world, speeding through all dimensions until we found the citadel. Clockwork immediately floated over to his time grid machine, Vlad following close behind.

"What's next?" Vlad asked, pressing the buttons on the keypad in a complicated way to start up the machine. "How can we use your 'sense'?"

"As we search through the years Danny's life, I will be able to use this new sense, this 'displacement' of Rooks, to pinpoint exactly where he has been." CW stared up at the monitor both proudly and excitedly. "I might even be able to find where he's _going_ as well."

I wasn't going to get my hopes up, but this was definitely a step in the right direction. I couldn't be as enthusiastic as CW and Vlad, especially since- regardless of the progress we'd apparently made- Rooks had still made a fool out of me.

"What did he mean when he said I'd still be stuck here?" I asked.

CW dropped his arms at his side then. He turned to look at me. "Danny..." He said, and automatically I felt dread seep through my skin. I knew that tone of voice; it meant bad news.

My knees wobbled as Clockwork rubbed his forehead, floating over to me. "I should've said this when I knew..."

"Clockwork?" I whispered, and Vlad stared at CW expectantly.

The time master sighed heavily. "Under your...circumstances, the result of your death...well, there's that riff in time, since you were never meant to die when you did. The disturbance it caused...changed things for you."

"Spit it out, Clockwork!" My voice cracked. He looked at me sadly, and I suddenly felt as though I knew what he was about to say.

"Danny...there is no great beyond for someone like you."

As the words left his mouth, my hands rose to my cheeks. "But...why?"

"Your accident wasn't meant to happen the way it did, not in any time, as you already know." CW rubbed the back of his hooded head. "So, much like Rooks, your soul is existing outside of time in its own way."

So once again, my darker self and I had more in common than we realized. "So...what? I can't...move on from here? I can't go to the better place?"

"Trust me, Danny, no one in the universe deserves to be over there more than you do," CW floated over to me hesitantly. "But because of this hiccup...you will never see the Light." He reached out to me. "That's why it is so important to fix-"

I pushed his hand away. "All of this is for nothing if I don't get my life back!" I exclaimed. "How long have you known?!"

"Since I spoke with the Observants," CW explained, "It was the first thing I asked about...whether or not you had the choice to go to the other side. But even they aren't powerful enough to send you there. They can only see what is on _this_ side. The power that comes from that place is much greater and much higher than that of the Observants."

"So that's it?!" I backed away from him. "If I don't fix this goddamn riff, if we don't get rid of Rooks and undo what he did and bring me back to life...I'm going to be stuck in the Ghost Zone? For eternity? I'm going to be stuck in this hell?!"

"I will help you with the adjustment, if it does come down to that." Clockwork held both his hands up defensively. "It will be hard at first, but you would be able to be of use here, and I could show you how to create a life, even in death. But our priority is to make sure it _does not come down to that_."

I paced. All this time...I thought there was a better place for me. If I had died when and how I was supposed to, I would be there. Instead...I was stuck in Purgatory. In the Ghost Zone. A place I ran to and from my entire life. I guess that was irony; I really did belong here after all. Unless I could fix everything.

"But..." I ceased my incessant pacing. "I saw it. I saw the Light."

"You don't actually mean _the_ Light, Daniel, do you?" Vlad asked anxiously. I wondered if he was nervous because, if there was a "light" place, then that meant there was a "dark" place too. A place Vlad's soul- half human, half Plasmius- would end up in once his body was done. Because, unless he somehow redeemed himself on earth...he would have no chance at going to the better place.

"Yes. I do." I stated, dragging my hands down my face. "I felt it. It was warm. I felt like I was ready to go. I heard someone calling to me...and I accepted my fate. I was on my way and then..."

"And then you ended up in my tower." CW rubbed his chin. "That I cannot explain. And I don't know what you saw or felt- whether it was the other side opening up to you or not- but something pulled you to me instead. Something forced you back here, and we now know it isn't 'unfinished business'."

"You don't think the other side...cast me out, do you?" I asked, wondering what I could've possibly done to deserve that.

"I'm not very religious," Black rings surrounded Vlad as he spoke, and he turned into his human form. I couldn't help but feel jealous of him for having that choice. "But I wonder if the 'almighty powers that be' know you are going to live again. Clockwork even said the higher powers are more powerful than the Observants, who see everything there is to see here. Maybe they know you'll come back from this."

That was probably the smartest and most encouraging thing I had ever heard Vlad say. But, again...this was a theory based on a lot of "maybe's" and no "definitely's".

"Go back to Amity Park, Daniel." I finally allowed CW to pat my shoulder. It wasn't his fault I was in this mess. He turned to Vlad. "You both should go home. If I find Rooks, I will summon you here."

Vlad and I locked eyes briefly, and what I saw in his made me think he was finally seeing me for who I really was. For once, I felt like he was really trying to help me. He nodded and headed over to CW's portal on the opposite side of the room, leapt into it's swirling green glow and disappeared.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Danny." Clockwork said, guiding me over to the portal. "I hope you know I am doing everything I can, everything in my power to-"

"-I know. I appreciate it. I'm just exhausted." I stared into the glow. "I am starting to feel lost. Like an actual lost soul."

"We're all a little lost, kid." Clockwork smiled at me.

I jumped through the portal, wondering the entire way where it would bring this lost soul of mine.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I flew through the gray sky, breathing in the crisp, Earth air. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between here and the Ghost Zone if I hadn't been in the Ghost Zone for as long as I've been. But I could tell, I could taste how clear and alive the air here was compared to the Ghost Zone, which was heavy and thick and too warm.

I felt a little less lost flying over Amity Park. In fact, being here in ghost-form made me feel more like me than being human here felt sometimes. And it definitely felt good to be all-ghost on earth and not in the Ghost Zone. No wonder everyone was always trying to escape from there...it all made sense to me now. The best feeling for ghosts was to be free of their world, be a free spirit on this beautiful planet, in an incredible, amazing universe.

I finally understood.

I headed in the direction of Sam's house. I wanted to tell her everything that was going on, update her on my "diagnosis". I would feel so much better once I saw her...I felt my cheeks redden as I remembered the last time I was with her. I was being unfair, loving her and having her love me when I couldn't actually be with her. It was unfair of me to seduce her in the way that I did, even though I knew it was mutual decision. She _chose_ to love me, even though she knew it wasn't good for her. Not right now at least, not while I was still dead.

I floated on my back and exhaled. I'd probably have to leave out the part about how there's no way for me to get to the "great beyond" with this time-space riff. If I didn't come back, Sam would grow old and pass away and go there without me. I didn't want her to think the worst has happened...I still had hope. And I wanted her to have hope, too.

I landed on the street in front of her house. I rolled my shoulders and stared up at her massive place. It was dark, which it almost never was...Sam's father Jeremy often stayed up all night working on his next novel and spent most mornings sleeping. If I hadn't been half-ghost, Tucker and I would've never been able to break Sam out of her room the countless amount of times that we did. So it was definitely peculiar that the house was completely swallowed by darkness.

I leapt up and headed toward Sam's window. I went to tap on it with my knuckles, but I realized there were no maroon curtains blocking my view this time. I cupped my hands around my eyes and went against the glass to peer inside.

Her room was empty.

"What the hell?" I said quietly, phasing into the room. The entire thing, all of Sam's stuff, her bed, her dresser, her television and computer; all of it was gone. I flew out of her bedroom door and down the hall, checking her parents' room.

Empty.

"Where...?" I asked an empty question, my heart thudding violently against my breastbone. I quickened speed, flying down to the second floor where there were guest rooms and a living room. Everything was completely cleared, the floor expanding in size with the lack of items in it. I flew through the stairs to the main floor into the now-naked kitchen and barren family room, then down to the basement where the movie theater used to be.

It was all gone.

I gripped the sides of my head, spinning around as if everything would reappear. Where was Sam and her family? Why was their house totally uninhabited? It was as if they'd packed up and evacuated immediately...

"How long have I been gone?" I whispered to myself, and it echoed off the walls of Sam's home.

I sped upward and phased through the floor, then shot out of the kitchen through the wall and into the sky. There was one person I knew that would know where Sam had gone and what happened to her.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I had to have been gone a long time, because Tucker was hugging me a minute longer than I expected.

"Dude, I was so worried." Tucker clapped me on the back and guided me over to his couch. He shut the curtains to his window, glancing out of the panes before he did so, and I was curious as to why. He came over and sat behind me pulling his knees to his chest. "Where the fuck have you been all this time?"

"That's the thing, Tuck," I put my arm along the back of the couch and turned to him. "For me, I've only been gone a day, maybe. I saw Sam last night..." I felt my ears get warm as I tried to not think about it. "And she was still in her house."

Tucker's eyes widened, and he took his glasses off, cleaning them with his yellow shirt furiously. He always did that when he was nervous. He placed them back on his head. "So you really have no idea, then?"

"None."

He sighed. "Danny...Sam and her family moved out. She got accepted to grad school in the next town over, at Craven College, and her dad was looking at some big mansion with, like, a _million_ acres land over in Haddonfield..." He shrugged. "And once she got accepted, they started packing."

"So...how long ago was that?" I asked cautiously.

Tucker grimaced. "Two months back."

"Two MONTHS?!" I exclaimed, hopping to my feet. Tucker yanked on my arm, forcing me back down. I shook my head incredulously. "Two months!" I breathed. "Sam must think I abandoned her. And Jazz-!"

"Jazz isn't due for another three weeks, man, don't worry." Tucker smiled but it looked forced.

"If I had been gone any longer I would've missed the birth of my nephew. I wouldn't have been there for Jazz."

"Well," Tucker rubbed the back of his neck, "You're here now."

I rolled my eyes and sunk into the couch. "But for how long? How long until I need to go after Dan Phantom-now-Rooks? How long before I have to fight for my afterlife again?" I looked at Tucker, who appeared sadder than I'd ever seen him. He was watching me, feeling everything I was feeling, going through everything I was going through. My best friend in the whole world suffering beside me.

"I feel like..." I swallowed. "I really feel like a ghost now."

"What do you mean, Danny?" Tucker asked softly.

I shook my head, trying to shake away the tightness in my chest, in my face, that feeling just before you cry. I gasped quietly, trying to keep it all in. "I _feel_ like I'm a ghost. Life is moving forward one day at a time, whether I am watching it or not. I am staying in one place, one constant place. And everything around me keeps going. Because the world didn't stop when I died."

I saw Tucker wipe his eyes under his glasses with the back of his long-sleeve. "It did though. Everything good is gone."

I shook my head. "You feel that way personally. But you don't see everything _else_ reacting to my absence. Because life just goes on."

"You told me Clockwork said your death totally ruined time and messed up the world big time," Tucker sniffed. "So in a way, the world _has_ stopped. Or at least it's broken."

I shrugged. "My point is that life in general will go on without me in it. You will grow up and grow old. Sam will run the Environmental Protection Agency or whatever. My nephew will never know who I am, he'll never have memories of me like you guys do. And then _he_ will grow up and grow old. Life goes on while I stand still. It will stay that way whether I come back or..." I groaned, putting my face in my hands. "Tucker, there's something I need to tell you, but you can't tell Sammy."

"Is it about how you guys finally had sex?" Tucker's eyebrows lifted and my mouth popped open. "Because she already told me-"

"-No! No, Tucker, God no. That's not it. No. Stop." I shoved him and he smiled saucily. We laughed, and for one split second, everything felt normal.

But it was over as soon as it happened. "Promise me you won't tell Sam." I said, sitting tall.

"I promise, Danny."

I inhaled deeply. "Because of everything being messed up- time, space, destiny, whatever- because of the world's imbalance...I won't actually be able move on, if I can't come back."

Tuck narrowed his eyes. "What? You mean, like, you can't get into Heaven or something?"

"Something like that, yeah. I'll be stuck in perpetual Ghost Zone hell."

Tucker jumped to his feet, startling me. "That's not fair! Of all people-" He growled angrily. "Of _all_ people, Danny, you deserve to be on the clouds in the sky. Dude, that's bullshit. You're wrong."

I stood and shook my head. "No, Tuck. It's true. Even the Observants told Clockwork it's out of their hands."

Tucker gaped at me. His eyes brimmed with liquid and I turned away before I could see the drops fall. His voice was barely above a whisper. "After all you've done...after everything you've done for the world, for our planet, for the Ghost Zone even...the hero you-" He let out a shaky breath. "It's just so... _unfair_. It makes no sense. It-"

I turned to Tuck and we both went in for a hug. I held my head high, letting him release the tears I wanted to set free myself, allowing him to feel what I needed to express. Because I couldn't let it all out, not in front of him. I had to be strong for him.

"I don't know why I'm crying." He said quietly, wiping his eyes as he pulled away. "I'm sad for you. You shouldn't be dead. You should be the one who is still here. Of all people. Of _all_ people."

"I know. I know." I gripped his shoulders. "You know why I can't tell Sam right?"

He nodded. "I get it, dude. Your secret is safe with me."

I gave his arms a squeeze before releasing him. He plopped down on the couch. "The Guys in White have been around the past few weeks."

That explained him shutting the curtains before. "Oh yeah?"

He reached over the arm of the couch and pulled out his laptop. "They're wondering where the 'Ghost Boy' is. They took a hiatus for a few years there, but I guess there's been an influx in paranormal activity since Danny Phantom has disappeared." He wiped his eyes again before typing on his computer. "They've been in town in search of you. Looks like they need help; ironic, since they hunted your ass the moment they saw you. I'll pull up the article."

"Have they questioned anyone who knows my secret?" I looked over Tucker's shoulder at the screen. Sure enough, the Guys in White and their younger recruits posed in a photo, standing in front of the 'Welcome to Amity Park' sign.

"Yeah. Me."

I grumbled. "As if you aren't dealing with enough? As if this town wasn't dealing with enough-"

"-They're definitely suspicious of how the Ghost Boy disappeared the same time Danny Fenton passed away." He paled as he said the last four words. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Sorry. It still feels so foreign saying that. Anyway, their recruits are a lot smarter than their supervisors were, so they're moving quickly. I'm hoping they don't figure anything out before you fix this mess."

" _If_ I fix this mess." I reminded him.

He looked at me squarely. " _When_ you fix this mess. You're going to fix it. And I'm here to help you in anyway I can."

I smiled at Tuck, trying to appear hopeful. "Thanks Tucker." I crossed my arms, trying to think. Either I could search for Sam now, or go see my parents, or stay until Clockwork needed me. Or, I could pop by CW's citadel and warn him about the Guys in White. Wow, never thought I'd think those words before...

I decided on option C. Better to warn him now than to be gone for twenty-four hours, or multiple months in Earth-time, and have the GIW suddenly obtain the necessary technology to find out everything about me.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, Tucker." I grabbed his hand and helped him off the couch as he put his laptop away. "Tell Sam I love her, okay?"

"Maybe Clockwork can figure out how to help you manage your time versus our time." He said, bringing me in for a hug. "Just to help everyone out in the long run."

"Yeah. Maybe." I sighed, opening the curtains to his window. It had started to rain, and the water was pelting the glass loudly.

"And we're going to fix this." Tucker continued, his voice strong. "I'm not going to let you be stuck in Ghost Zone purgatory."

 _Then why do I already feel like I am?_

I pressed my palm against the glass. "The more time passes," I said, "I'm starting to feel..." I closed my eyes, feeling the rain vibrate against my hand. I allowed my fingertips to phase through the glass, dipping outside and back into the room again. "I'm starting to feel like I am a better ghost than I am human."

Tucker gasped quietly. "You're not, Danny," he argued, "You are _equally_ as good a human as you are a ghost. They're both a part of you. They both _are_ you."

I opened my eyes, seeing their blue reflection in the windowpane. "Maybe. I'll see you soon, Tucker." I watched my hand phase so naturally through the window, and felt myself fall through it as I flew out of Tucker's house.

Every part of being a ghost was natural. It was scary, because it used to be that it felt unnatural being all-ghost, and natural being only half. But things were changing. I was stuck, and everything was changing; even _I_ was changing while I was stuck.

I returned to the Ghost Zone and landed on my feet in the citadel boisterously to alert CW of my presence. He turned away from his time grid and looked at me strangely.

"Back so soon?" He asked. "You needn't be here, Daniel."

"I've missed two months, CW." I crossed my arms. "How is it that in our twenty-four hours of chasing Rooks, two months on Earth have passed? It took two months before the Guys in White started searching for me. Do you want to explain this to me?"

Clockwork shrugged and turned back to the monitor. "That's just the way time works in different worlds. We'll handle the GIW if need be." He didn't seem at all surprised by the fact that the paranormal FBI was hunting again.

"Can we figure out a way to manage our time in both worlds?" I stepped up behind him as he typed on the machine. "Is there a way I can know what time it is over there while I am here?"

"Maybe. I will have to look into it." He didn't even look up from his work to say this.

"But it's important-"

"-It's important that we deal with the matters at hand, kid." He interjected. "We have more important things to worry about than you 'missing out'."

"This is just as important as everything else!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in frustration. "Life is moving on _without_ me, Clockwork!"

He stopped typing and hunched over the machine, letting out a long whoosh of air. He didn't say anything for a long time.

Then, "I know you are suffering, Danny. I am suffering right beside you." He straightened up and turned around, squinting his red eyes at me. "But you need to have patience. We will figure out each problem as they arise. I am the master of time; not a magician. Do you understand?"

I breathed shakily. "I understand. I'm sorry."

CW shook his head. "Don't be sorry. I, too, understand." He then went over to his portal. "I have an address for the goth girl, if you wish to go to her."

I nodded vigorously. As frustrated and tormented and lost as I felt, it was easier to deal with it all knowing Clockwork was truly on my side. He gave me the coordinates and programmed his portal to take me to the general Haddonfield area.

It was funny really: I was a lost soul amongst lost souls, but I had the exact coordinates of a living soul, one that _my_ soul was tethered to. Attached by an unbreakable thread. Almost like a rope that tied me to where I was meant to be, long enough so I could roam, but not so long that I wouldn't be able to find my way back.

In retrospect...I might not be so lost after all.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Hope you enjoyed. The mystery of Dark Dan/Rooks's master plan is unraveling, but who knows if unveiling his secrets will be good for Danny...or terrible?

(I knows. I knows everything.)

Song that inspired chapter: "Heavy" by Linkin Park.

On to the next!

 _~RyJones_


	9. Liberation

**A/N:**

Hello, hello! Back again with our favorite hero. Hope this uploading schedule is working for all of you, I know the break feels long between chapters, but for me it's a mad rush from one story to the other and back again! So if you feel like I may be forgetting you, trust me- I am diligently writing something every single day of my life.

Love you all!

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I thought I'd have trouble looking for the love of my life during the night in a town I'd never been to, but when I saw an enormous manor on the outskirts of Haddonfield, I knew it had to be her new home.

It sat down a hill, elegant and refurbished like something out of the home and garden channel on TV. The driveway lead to two separate buildings built for two-car garages and extra living space, and wrapped around the house to an exit street. The lawn was clean and the landscaping finished, dozens of plants and flowers erupting around the home- just how Sam liked. All of the windows were covered in velvet curtains, blocking out any wandering eyes- including mine- only a sliver of light pushing through the small cracks.

I flew around the top floor of the house, assuming Sam's room would be around there somewhere. I reached a window and intangibly dipped my head through the wall to take a peek inside. Instantly, I knew this wasn't her room, because everything was modern styled and the color scheme was pink and gray. This was undoubtedly her parents' room.

Not only that, but Jeremy was sitting at a desk by the window near where I stuck my head through, typing fervently on his laptop. He'd only pause to scribble notes down on some paper before continuing working on whatever his next book would be.

Nosy as I often am, I slid over to where he sat and peered down at his screen.

"What's that word...goddammit!" Jeremy slapped the desk, making me jump and almost reveal my presence. Sam's father sighed and dropped his graying head. "Need to focus." He reached for a drawer and slid it open, snatching up a bottle of prescription pills. I frowned leaning down to see the label. Squinting, I could just make out the word "Adderall"- a stimulant I knew was used for things like ADHD. Something Jeremy got addicted to only once before while Tucker, Sam and I were still in high school.

I sighed and ducked out of the house quickly. The less I saw, the less I'd know; and less I knew, the better.

I circled the house more, popping my head into walls and being disappointed when I didn't see Sam. But, as all houses have an ending at some point, I saw a wing that branched off to the side on a floor closer to the roof. There was a big picture window and balcony...and standing upon it was my best friend in the world.

She was so beautiful, staring up at the full moon that illuminated everything and stars that twinkled beside it. She was slouched over the railing, chin in hand, blinking her violet eyes as they scanned the sky.

I couldn't hold back my smile. I bit my bottom lip hard and floated up to her, unveiling myself.

"Looking for me?" I said saucily as I phased my head up through the balcony floor behind her.

Sam screamed shortly and whipped around, the echo slicing the peaceful night she was enjoying. "Jesus Christ, Danny!"

I belly-laughed, holding my stomach as I phased the rest of the way through the floor, forgetting my problems for a brief second. "Sorry."

Sam's scowl broke into a grin. I could tell she was happy to see me more than she was pissed at my immature scare. She briskly walked over to me and then jogged the rest of the way, flinging her arms around my neck. I inhaled lavender and closed my eyes, burying my face into her long, black, silky hair.

"I haven't seen you in two months." She whispered quietly.

"I know."

She pulled back to look at me, her hands tangling in my hair. "I missed the hell out of you. Have you made any progress with anything?"

I hung my head, shaking it. "If 'progress' is finding out Dark Dan escaped, changed his name to Rooks and fucked up the time-space continuum...then yeah, I guess we've made 'progress'."

Sam looked at me wide-eyed. "Dark Dan? What?!" She gripped my hair tighter. "How is this possible? Why? Is it his fault all of this is happening?"

I proceeded to tell her about my adventures over the course of days in ghost time, months in her time. I left out my most recent discovery- the fact that if I don't fix this, I'll never make it to the other side. The better place where heroes like me are supposed to go. I felt guilty as hell for avoiding that topic, but I just didn't want to worry her.

The whole time I talked, she listened intently, nodding and kissing me every time I paused longer than a second. It felt so good to be in her arms again, and I hated to think I'd need to leave again soon.

"I'm almost relieved Vlad is helping." Sam said when I was done updating her. "He may be the biggest bastard I've ever met, but this shows he really cares about something other than himself."

"I'm not getting my hopes up for him." I rolled my eyes. "But...yeah."

Sam brushed a strand of my white hair out of my face, a dimpled smile forming on hers. She took my hand, pulling me towards the door that lead into her room. "Come on," she said.

I tilted my head, questioning the sly look on her face. "Where are we going?"

She tugged my arm, guiding me into the house and shutting the door behind us. "We're having sex now."

"Oh." I felt my bottom half twitch at her words, my blue eyes widening at her. "O-okay." I stammered shyly, sounding like a total loser. Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? We already did this before...but my ghostly heart was hammering in my chest at the closeness of her.

She rose to her tip-toes and sucked my bottom lip briefly. "Not such a tough guy this time, huh?" Her voice was low and warm on my mouth and I involuntarily closed my eyes, a whimper escaping my throat. She laughed and slid her hands up my chest; I felt my own subconsciously tug on the hem of her pajama pants. Sam's lips trailed down my chin to my neck and I sighed. Her fingers tugged my jumpsuit zipper down over my chest, sliding it down my stomach in a way that made goosebumps rise. I felt my knees wobble for a second and I hoped she didn't notice.

"Sam..." I croaked, wanting more of this and wishing the guilt in me would disappear for a little while. It was a weird feeling, being unable help my mind whirring around at the same time as wanting to ravish Sam's body and forget my troubles. My thoughts were arguing with one another and my body didn't know how to react.

"Shh." She said, her breath stealing a whimper from me again. "Let me take care of you."

"Sam, I-" I started, but I was cut off by her mouth on mine and her hand down my pants.

I tried to see reason, using the logical and respectful side of my thoughts, but it was too late: desire outweighed everything else.

I was naked and she was on top of me so quick I had no idea how we even reached her bed to begin with. My head hung off the edge of the mattress, so I was dizzily staring upside down at the balcony doors, my eyes rolling every time her lips touched my skin. Her mouth and hands were everywhere all at once, and her bed sheets were clutched in my gripping fists, and I was biting my lip so hard I thought I might bleed. She ran her mouth up my stomach to my chest, whispering my name between flicks of her tongue and I shook with want.

"Fuck, Sam." I groaned with an unexpected growl hooked on the end, "I want you so bad..."

She peered over the edge of the bed to look at me. "You have me, Danny." She kissed my exposed neck and I closed my eyes. "You have me forever."

My eyes snapped open and reality hit _hard_. Like someone had a bag full of rocks and whacked me in the chest with it. I couldn't keep doing this; this, as in have sex with her right now, and this, as in lie to her anymore.

"Sam." I said, my voice quivering as I gently pushed against her shoulders. She looked at me, perplexed, but those sultry eyes still gazed hungrily at me. I swallowed hard and grunted, rolling up onto the bed and tugging my boxers back up. "I can't do this."

"Danny." She said, almost in a scolding tone. She pouted and climbed into my lap, straddling my currently extremely sensitive crotch. I couldn't help but eye-roll and my hands gripped her hips. She whispered against my lips, "Stop being the hero for a minute."

"Mmmm." I whined, both because I wanted her more now than I ever wanted her before, and because I really didn't want to keep going with this heavy lie between us. I turned my head away from her. "Sam..." I sighed, "Please...I need to tell you-"

"-Not now." She yanked my blinding white hair back, exposing my neck again and causing me to gasp. She began kissing it gently, her mouth sucking softly after every inch up my throat. I swallowed hard, feeling completely vulnerable and powerless and like I didn't know what to do with myself. She helped me be strong...but, damn, she made me so weak.

I protested, leaning my head out of her grasp. "I just think-"

My face was in her hands then. Her violet eyes scanned mine and, typically, I couldn't look away. "Danny, please," She began, "I know there's probably something you want to discuss. It's probably one of those 'good news/bad news' things." Her bottom lip jutted out subtly. "And I'm assuming it's more bad than good." She pecked me on the lips, lingering longer than she probably intended to. "I just want a moment."

I blinked at her, unsure of what she wanted. I tilted my head and kissed her. "A moment?" I asked.

She exhaled sharply and her shoulders slumped. "I just want to enjoy us. I want to _pretend_ that everything is okay, that everything is fine. Just for a bit." She slid off of me and moved across the bed over to her nightstand, snatching up a remote control. She looked over at me and I could swear I saw tears, despite her steady tone. "I want to pretend you and I are the only people in the world right now and that no one is dead and we are together, and I want to have one night dedicated to pretending."

"Sammy." I said, my gut twisting with remorse as I inched closer to her.

She hit a button on the remote and it clicked on her stereo. Her eyes traveled down my body, making me feel strangely shy all over again. "Just humor me and forget everything right now." She tugged her shirt over her head, exposing her breasts. "It's just you and me."

Music pounded out of her stereo system, and the heavy bass guitar mixed with the sight of her skin was enough to make my entire body relax into pretend. I practically lunged at Sam, pressing my mouth on hers and pushing her up against her leather headboard. My palms were pressed to the wall on either side of her head, and as I dipped my tongue into her mouth I felt her groan.

I wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her down to the bed, feeling that hidden beast in me from our first time together rising up, confidence radiating through me. I pressed myself to her, arms protectively surrounding her head while I kissed her. I could pretend right now; she wanted me and I wanted her, and that was all we both needed.

She was quick to tug my boxers back down over my hips while kicking her own pants off, winding her legs around my waist. I wiggled out from her entangle and dragged my tongue from her chest, down her abdomen and stopping to kiss between her legs. I looked up at her eagerly before using my mouth on her in a way that made me feel empowered.

She whimpered quietly, her hands pressing my head closer to her, her fingers toying with strands of white. She tasted better than I could've imagined, and the feeling of her legs clenching around my head made me close my eyes in contentment. Eventually the toying became pulling and I knew she wanted my lips on hers again. I bit each of her inner thighs before sliding back up her body, our mouths connecting and both of us moaning simultaneously.

She held me to her, scooting her hips against mine and lining up her body, her teeth on my lips and tongue in my mouth, both of us panting with yearning. She gripped the _hell_ out of my ass, and I was inside of her before either of us had a chance to breathe.

I was lost again. Not lost in the spirit sense, but lost in the bliss, the carefree; lost in lust, lost in her again. Forgetting was the best thing in the whole world. Forgetting was relief. Comfort. Safety. Forgetting was like drinking until I couldn't see straight. Forgetting was losing myself in a way I never thought could feel so _fucking_ good.

We moved to the beat of the song, our hips grinding together and it was never enough. I couldn't be any closer to her, yet I wanted to dive deeper. Her nails dug into my ass and back, her heels into my sides, making everything feel rough and wild and when I thought I might need to slow down she slapped my backside, forcing me to thrust harder.

I growled her name, my hands deep in her scalp, making myself slow down for both of us. My groin pulsated with the rhythm in my chest and my body ached with need.

"No." Sam whined quietly, making me buck. "Please..."

"I have to." I panted, pressing my face into her neck.

"Please..."

I moaned, pressing my sweating skin against her. "I'm...not done...pretending."

She sighed happily, her eyes watching my mouth, and she kneaded her hands into my back, rubbing every tense muscle. It felt so good, I almost collapsed on top of her. I kissed her slowly yet hungrily, taking advantage of her mouth in any way I could.

She pushed my matted hair out of my eyes, staring into them. All the thudding in me slowed until I couldn't feel it anymore and I relaxed under her touch.

"I love you." I unintentionally moaned, running my nose over her face.

"Danny." She whispered quietly, saying it all just in my name, pure love and contentment...with enough emotion that made me start thinking about all the bad things going on in my afterlife all over again.

I shook the thoughts from my head and moved myself away from her.

There wasn't enough time for Sam to ask if I was okay before I rolled her onto her stomach and leaned over her. I kissed the back of her neck before running my mouth down her spine, earning a loud moan from her.

My lips met her ass and I bit hard as the music picked up, loud enough to drown out her yelp. I nudged her legs open with my knees before pushing myself back into her, grinding my hips against her thighs. She cried out, sliding herself on me, allowing me to pick up speed. I slid my hands around her front, gliding over her chest and up her throat. When she let out a guttural "yes!" I knew I could let my worries go. I guided her head, turning it so I could kiss her while we rocked.

I was pretending again.

" _Fuck_ , Sam." I hissed and she gazed up at me, her eyes begging for me to finish us both. All I had to do was keep going.

And going.

And going.

Until...

Yep.

I _loved_ pretending.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

My body felt weightless and heavy all at one time; like I had been given a full-body massage and also did multiple weightlifting exercises. My head was buzzing with satisfaction and relief, but those bad thoughts were lurking, creeping, and I needed to get them out. Yet, part of me needed _this_ moment: peace and happiness and ecstasy. The "afterglow" people talk about that makes everything else melt away.

Sam's hands combed through my hair, her fingertips moving slowly through my scalp. I couldn't remember feeling anything as comforting as this before in my whole life; my cheek pressed to her stomach and arms wound around her waist, trapping her in my embrace. Her thighs kept my body warm and I kept dozing on and off throughout the night to the sound of her breathing.

I don't think Sam slept at all, because every time I jerked awake she was still petting my hair. I knew she was thinking about things. About life, death, me, her, us. She probably wondered what I needed to tell her, and also thought maybe she didn't want to know. She was probably asking herself "what the fuck am I doing with Danny" when there was still a fifty-fifty shot I wasn't going to come back. She was probably hating herself all over again for loving me.

And now I was hating myself again for _making_ her love me.

It was still pitch black outside, the shuffled music at a relaxing volume level, when I finally peeled my face from the warmth of her skin and glanced up at her. Sure enough, I could see her violet eyes distant and pensive, staring at the wall ahead of her before she looked down at me. She smiled and the faraway look in her eyes dissipated.

"You alright?" She said quietly, lifting her eyebrows in that sassy way she did.

I felt myself smiling but I remembered whatever front she had on right now might not be real. It wasn't a reflection of what she was feeling inside.

I sighed and got to my knees. I reached for Sam, pulling her against me, before I slid us under her bed sheets. I propped her against the pillows and rolled on top of her, burying my face in her chest.

"Sam, I'm sorry." I whispered, feeling ashamed. I couldn't even look at her.

Her hands were in my hair again and she laughed awkwardly. "Sorry...?"

"I don't mean to do this to you." I licked my lips and squeezed my eyes shut, wishing to be playing pretend again. Wishing no part of reality being real. "I just can't control myself. I can't not be myself with you, I can't not feel what I feel every time I see you-"

"-Danny, stop." She said, a hint of annoyance dripping in her voice. "Stop that. Are you seriously apologizing for being in love with me?"

I blushed furiously, realizing how dumb it sounded. But there was logic behind it all. "Sam, you _know_ why I'm apologizing."

She pushed my shoulders. "Well, I don't _want_ your apology, Danny." She wiggled out from under me, rolled onto her side, and we faced each other. "I am not sorry for loving you. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. I'm going to enjoy loving you until I'm on the other side."

There it was. The thickness that was my lie, the heavy weight of this secret hanging between us. It made me feel sick. I pressed my face into her pillow, feeling myself disappear.

"Danny, no." Sam's voice brought me out of invisibility. She rested her hand on my cheek, stroking it with her thumb. "I'm not stupid; I know what your chances of coming back could be. And I don't care."

"I'm holding you back, Sammy." I frowned, my voice wavering.

A slower paced rock song came on her playlist- ironic mood music while I wallowed in guilt and self-pity. I moved closer to Sam, our noses touching. I didn't know how I could possibly explain everything to her without destroying both of us in the process. My chest ached with a grief so black, and I never thought I could feel something this bad.

"Sam, I love that you're so strong in all of this." I whispered, fearing the weakness of my voice. "But we are not pretending right now. I _am_ sorry for how you feel about me. I have to be sorry. Because I can see all of this is hurting you. It's hurting _me_."

She shook her head, her lips parting to protest but I silenced her with a kiss. It was over too quick, but I needed to keep talking. "There is a chance I can reverse everything and come back alive and well. But I need to be honest with you. I need to tell you the truth." I inhaled deeply, "If it doesn't happen-"

"-It _will_ happen-"

"If it _doesn't_ happen," I stared her in the eyes so she could see how serious I was about this, "I am going to be stuck in the Ghost Zone for eternity. I won't get to the other side."

There was a beat of silence between us, only the music drifting in the cool air.

"W-what?" Sam squeaked, her eyes widening. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Whatever went wrong in time made everything...wrong for me." I tried to explain. "I have no shot at Heaven. Not this way."

"That's..." She shook and tears poured over her eyes. She was holding back nothing. "That's not fair..." She gasped, holding in a sob and my heart broke into pieces. "Are you saying that...that even when it's my time to go..."

"I won't be there." I choked on my own words, rolling onto my back and letting go of all the tension I had built up inside of me. My eyes blurred and I chewed my bottom lip anxiously, wishing I could've held on to my emotions a bit longer for her sake. I needed her to see me be brave.

Sam was on top of me in less than a second, wiping her eyes with the back of her fist. "No." She said sternly, leaning down to kiss me on the mouth. I tasted the salt from both of our tears mixing and placed my hands on either side of her face. She wiped my eyes with her thumbs, shaking her head. "I know this is hard...but no. I won't let you be sorry for loving me, Danny." She closed her eyes and rubbed her face against mine. "Because _I'm_ not sorry for being in love with you."

I let out a quiet sob and my arms went round her, bringing her down to me. I kissed her hard but slow; as urgently as earlier, but gentle enough to show her she was everything to me.

"Oh Danny..." She sighed sadly into my mouth, her hands on my face. I turned to her right palm and kissed it. "I love you so much."

"I love you Sam." I swallowed my fears and sucked the water back into my eyes. "I'll love you for eternity." I turned her onto her back and kissed her neck. "If I come back..." I ran my nose up her jaw, closing my eyes. "I don't want these words to be just words. I want to give you everything I have, all the love inside me."

" _When_ you come back." The phrase didn't sound as strong as it was earlier coming from her.

"I don't want you to wait for me." I said, my voice cracking. "If you meet someone-"

"-I don't want to think about that-"

"-Just know that if I come back," I was tangled up in her now, our arms and legs wrapped around each other in an impossible knot, "I promise I'm never going to let you go. Ever."

"Kiss me." She said breathlessly and I graciously took her mouth in mine.

It was then that her phone buzzed loudly on the side-table, startling us both. We laughed and once it ceased its vibrating, I went back to kissing her, this time inching my mouth away from hers, down her body, down her stomach to her-

The phone buzzed again. I popped my head out from beneath the covers and glanced over at the table. "Do you want to get that?" I asked her.

Sam looked puzzled as she leaned over to see the screen- the clock read two in the morning- and she squinted at the bright glow. "It was a missed call from Tucker. Now it's Valerie."

"Answer it." I nodded at the phone, taking her free hand in mine and kissing her knuckles. She smiled her full-lipped smirk at me and held the phone to her ear.

"Hey Val-" She paused. "What?!" She bolted upright, scaring the hell out of me and sending me flying- _literally_ flying, hovering above the bed. "Oh my gosh!" She whipped the covers off and scrambled to the floor. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh...okayokayokayokay!"

"Sam?" I asked warily, cupping my boys as I dangled in midair, suspended and completely naked.

Sam threw her phone to the bed and put her hands to her face. "Danny, Jazz's water broke!"

"What?" I blinked at her as she threw my boxers at my face. "You mean...?"

Sam laughed at my expression. "Jazz is having a baby. You're going to be an uncle!"

I held the sides of my head and laughed, somersaulting in the air. "I'm going to be an uncle!" Sam laughed with me and grabbed my hand, pulling me back down to the earth. "Wow!" I breathed, taking her in my arms and spinning us. "Jazz is...Jazz is going to be a mom today. A _mom_."

Sam rolled her eyes at me, guiding me over to her on-suite bathroom. "Is that even really news? Come on, let's shower and head over to Amity Park."

Jazz was always motherly towards Tucker, Sam and I despite her being only two years older than me. She nagged, scolded, belittled the hell out of me growing up, especially when I was in high school. At fourteen, I'd always believed she thought she was better than me. But as the years passed and after she knew my secret, I realized she only did those things because she cared. In addition to nagging and scolding and belittling, she also loved me and comforted me and tried her best to protect me. Just like a mother.

And now, at last, she could be a mother to her own child and stop bothering me.

I couldn't contain my excitement while Sam and I showered. I was practically bouncing off the walls while she scrubbed my hair and arms and hissed at me to "hold still". She let me be excited, and my giddiness outweighed all the agonizing thoughts from before. Life was exciting, and my nephew was about to just start his.

By the time I had my jumpsuit pulled on, Sam was waiting at the balcony door, wearing another one of my t-shirts and a pair of joggers, practically jumping up and down.

"We're flying there, right?" She asked me, hope consuming every part of her face.

I grinned widely at her, whisking her up into my arms bridal style like I used to do. I felt young and carefree again, excited to take to the skies with Sam in my arms. Even though we were adults now, I still had those nervous and excited flutters in my stomach over flying in general and flying with her. I truly felt alive right now.

Sam pulled the balcony door shut behind us before I leapt into the air. She squealed and hid her face into my chest, shivering at the night chill, laughing the entire ascent.

"I forgot how much I LOVE FLYING!" She yelled.

My cheeks hurt from the grin on my face. "I never take advantage of it."

"Wow," She leaned her head on my shoulder as I leveled out, "God, I've missed this."

"I guess it's been a while, huh?" I said quietly, the wind swallowing my words before I knew if she'd heard them.

It took less than a half hour for us to get to the hospital- under the circumstances, that was totally okay. In any other case, I would've taken the longest way possible so that I could fly forever. I landed us in an alleyway behind the hospital and turned invisible as I placed Sam on her combat-booted feet. I grabbed her hand and we ran around the building towards the front where we spotted Tucker and Valerie.

"Hey!" Tucker one-arm hugged Sam. "You got here so quickly!"

I briefly unveiled myself, smiling mischievously at my bewildered friends. "Hey, guys."

Val and Tucker both gasped "Danny!" and I went invisible again.

"Dude, I can't believe you're here for this!" Tucker whispered to me excitedly. I stopped myself from saying "why wouldn't I be here?" since obviously, being dead, I wouldn't. Sam squeezed my hand reassuringly.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." I answered instead. "No matter what plane of existence I'm on."

"Where are you, Danny Fenton?" Valerie stretched her arms out like a blind woman. "I need to hug you."

I let go of Sam and pulled Valerie's arm toward me. She stumbled into my embrace and we clung to each other. "Hey, Gray." I murmured into her brown curls. I could only imagine how this would look if someone were to walk past us on the street.

She broke away from me. "How's...everything...going?" She asked, shrugging sheepishly.

"No time for small talk," Tuck grabbed her hand and started toward the sliding glass doors. "Baby on the way!"

We hurried into the newly renovated hospital, Tucker taking the lead by asking reception where we could find my sister. When we got a floor and room number, we headed for the elevator.

"My heart is pounding so hard." I said, revealing myself as soon as the doors were closed.

"Aren't you dead?" Tucker asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Shut up, Tuck."

"Are Mr. and Mrs. Fenton here yet?" Valerie asked. Her question produced a dark cloud suffocating me in that tiny elevator, and no one answered her.

Sam turned to me. "Danny, this might be your chance to talk to them."

It was so quiet in that moving box, all I could hear was my own heavy, labored breathing. Sam stared up at me, her eyes hopeful, and I took a deep breath.

I nodded. "I have to do it, don't I." I said softly. My three best friends all bobbed their heads in unison. "How do I-?" The elevator doors slid open and I went invisible again. "How do I even begin?" I whispered to them, following as they exited.

"Maybe when they're out in the hall?" Tucker said, putting an arm over Val's shoulders. "Get them alone before you...you know...say 'boo!'."

Val shoved him angrily. " _Not_ funny, Tuck." She hissed through gritted teeth.

I ran my hands down my face, the too-bright white hospital walls giving me anxiety. "How do I go about explaining every lie I ever told to my parents, who were technically responsible for my death?"

Sam's hand found my back. "I have an idea. Just follow my lead, okay?"

I nodded, forgetting she couldn't see me.

We rounded a corner to the maternity ward, and the waiting room was completely empty.

All except for two people.

I stopped dead in my tracks, pulling against Sam's strong palm, but she pressed harder on my back and forced me to keep walking. My head spun, my hands started to sweat in my gloves. _Mom...Dad..._

My parents rose to their feet to greet everyone, happy smiles on their faces. They looked almost okay, if it weren't for their pale skin and the dark circles under their eyes; my father's balding head, hair practically falling out as he stood; my mother's weight loss; their hunched over appearance; and the lack of enthusiasm in their greeting.

My parents were still suffering.

"Where are Dean's parents?" Val asked my mother.

"Still on their trip in Honolulu." Mom yawned and leaned against the wall. "They're trying to get a flight out, but since it's June and people are on vacation, I'm concerned they aren't going to make it back any time soon."

"Well, you two are here and that's all that matters!" Tucker piped up encouragingly. It was obvious he was trying too hard to bring my parents out of their shells. "Are you guys excited to finally be grandparents?"

They glanced at each other briefly, as if to discuss something telepathically. My father's shoulders slumped and I resisted the urge to reach out to him. _Come on, Dad..._ I pleaded.

"Of course we're excited," he started, "It's just...a difficult time." My friends nodded in agreement. "It's hard to feel 'good' about anything." He mumbled.

The silence that followed was awkward for everyone. But what followed the silence was Sam initiating everything I'd been dreading for apparently months in Earth-time.

"Would you both come with me for a minute?" She asked Mom and Dad, and I felt her reach down and squeeze my hand. "I'd really like to speak with you about something."

"Jasmine might need us," Dad's eyebrows furrowed as he eyed Sam skeptically. "Can it wait, kid?"

Sam stepped up to them, "Please. I really need to talk to you guys."

A pause.

They agreed.

I followed her, Mom, and Dad down a hall to our right, and the entire way I was trying to fathom the fact that I'd be speaking to them for the first time since my accident. And the fact that I'd be speaking to them as Danny Phantom, not just Danny Fenton. I was about to actually reveal everything I was and ever would be. Everything I _am_.

 _Oh shit. Oh wow..._ I thought, letting myself hover behind them. I watched them disappear into an empty hospital room and shut the door. My parents, in pain, about to really know everything. They wouldn't have to wonder anymore. _This is it._

I couldn't describe this feeling if I tried. It was painful. It was hopeful. It was confusing. It was hopeless.

A teenage boy with a bandage wrapped around his head in the room beside the one my loved ones had entered was clutching a radio and rocking slowly while listening to a Linkin Park album. "One More Light" started and that was it...that was the only thing, the only song, that could describe this feeling. Funny how much music impacted my life, and how much it impacted how I thought in my afterlife.

I took the deepest breath of my existence, then phased through the door into the room.

I felt my chest ache watching them sit down on the hospital bed, Sam pacing in front of them.

I had to do this now.

"I'm sorry it took so long for you guys to find out about this, and especially find out in the way that you did," Sam started, her voice quivering and threatening to break. My parents looked panicked suddenly; they had no idea what she was going to say. "But...Danny was afraid to talk about it. He was afraid of what you might think of him, or do to him...and afraid of you not saying anything at all."

"This is about Danny?" Mom squeaked, tears springing to her eyes.

"As you now know...he kept a secret from you. A big secret." Sam sighed, closing her eyes. "And he was scared, and he loved you both so much that he wanted to protect you. He kept it to himself for seven years."

"But it's time to talk about it and be honest with you." Sam continued as approached my parents, taking one of each of their hands in hers. "When Danny was fourteen, him, Tucker and I were messing around with the gear in the basement. He wanted to check out the ghost portal you were building. We figured it would be fine, since it didn't even work." She shook her head. "We were so stupid. And he...had an accident."

My hand was pressed to my chest; I felt like I was trying to keep my heart from falling out at the scene unfolding before me. I felt like my legs were going to give out...the broken faces of three people I loved most in this world. Even at the mention of my name, you could see how shattered they were; even Sam, who at least knew my spirit was actually with her.

"He got the portal working," Tears dripped from Sam's face, falling slowly to the linoleum floor. "But since he'd been inside of it when it turned on...it came with a price."

My father rose to his feet, placing a hand on my mother's shoulder. "Sam...?"

"His DNA got messed up. And the accident half-killed him." Her mouth was running a mile per minute. "He turned half-ghost...a half of him that eventually became known as Danny Phantom. The Ghost Boy."

"I've never heard the truth out loud." My dad whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. "Part of me wanted to believe it wasn't true."

My mother stood beside him, her breath shaking and violet eyes glistening. "I never stop thinking about how we'd been so blind." She took Sam's hand. "It must've been so hard for you three to deal with it on your own."

"Not just that, Mrs. Fenton." Sam pulled away from her, looking at the empty air I was inhabiting. "Danny's spirit is here. He never really left. His half-ghost side, now all-ghost...it stayed behind."

My parents were silent in disbelief, trying to process her words.

Sam reached for me, finding my arm. "And he's here to see you."

 _Okay._

I held my breath...

And revealed myself to them.

"D-Danny?" My mother gaped at me and Dad stumbled as he stepped back against the bed.

It took everything in me not to run at that moment. "It's me." I croaked. I cleared my throat and clenched my fists. "I'm here."

Mom sobbed heavily, her hands crawling up her face. "I can't believe it's you." She took a step closer to me. "How...how could you lie to us about who you really were?" She sounded frustrated more than mad, because she knew- we all knew- that no one could blame me for keeping my identity a secret.

"I regret it every day." I whispered, hanging my head. The guilt flooded through me and I wondered if maybe it really was my fault that this happened. "I was afraid, I was stupidly afraid."

"No," My father composed himself, his eyes bloodshot to hell. "No. This is not your fault, son." He grabbed my mother's hand and looked down at her. "We were _hunters_ , Maddie."

Mom's face softened, and I felt Sam's hand on my back again, trying to reassure me. Mom took another step closer, "If you'd told us the truth, we would have _never_ hurt you-"

As her hand touched my chest, I unconsciously flinched. Flickers of the feeling and memory of dying wracked my brain and I felt my body tense up.

And they noticed.

The fear of facing this moment had been real.

"Oh my god, Danny." My mom collapsed against my father, looking up at him with sheer horror. "Oh god, Jack, we _did_ hurt him. We _did_." She wailed. "Oh god, Danny, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so-"

"-We love you unconditionally, Danny." Dad reached for me, eyes welling. "Son, if things had been different, if we'd only communicated better-"

"-My baby..." Mom moaned. There was so much pain, so much agony in her voice that it made everything hesitant in me fade away. I closed the gap between us and swooped my mother into my arms.

She cried into my jumpsuit and the instant my face buried into her hair, a sob escaped me so quickly that I felt my entire body relax. _Mom..._ I held her to me, the comforting scent she carried that made me feel at home every day I'd been alive. I looked up at Dad, who clearly didn't want to touch me without my permission, and I opened an arm to him.

Dad had us both in his embrace and the three of us spilled over one another; apologies crossing and hugs crushing and "I love yous" filling the room and there was so much torment and love and misery and forgiveness in one room I thought the world would spontaneously combust. _My_ world certainly did in that moment.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you guys sooner." I said through gritted teeth, trying to squeeze the tears between my eyelids away. "If I'd only said something right when it happened-"

"No, Danny, no." Dad said, kissing the top of my head. "We love you, son. I understand why you didn't. You were only a kid. You were on your own..."

"You're a hero, Danny." My mom cried into my neck, "You are a real, true hero..."

Dad released me, but I couldn't let go of Mom. Sometimes, you just need your mother. "I'm not; I'm a coward. I could save everyone except myself. I _did_ save everyone except myself."

Mom pulled back and wiped her eyes, placing her soft hands on the sides of my face. "Danny. You selflessly helped people all around the world, even more here in Amity Park." She kissed my cheeks and inhaled. "My boy. My sweet, brave boy...that makes you the greatest hero." She reached for my father's hand. "You're _our_ hero."

I held her arm and squeezed. "I really am sorry for not telling you the truth sooner. I was afraid of not being accepted. I was afraid you would think differently of me. It was stupid. But it was how I felt." I took a step back, arms open wide. "This part of me- the half-ghost side- this is who I really am...Half-human, half-ghost. I was fated to be this version of myself. It was my _destiny_ to become this person. And now you know who I really am."

My parents held each other, a combined emotion of pride and pain in their eyes. They were together again; no more blame. No more resentment. They could rely on each other. They could forgive each other.

"We're...so proud of you for being you." Dad said. "I've never been so proud."

Hearing those words...feeling this forgiveness and relief...

It was so freeing.

Had I not known about Rook's involvement in this, had I not known I couldn't actually move on...This was exactly what I imagined what going to the other side felt like.

I wrapped my arm around Sam's shoulder, bringing her close to me. I wouldn't have been able to get through this without her.

"I would've come sooner," I said, my face growing warm, "But...things have been..."

"We understand completely." Mom said, clutching my father. She rested her head on his chest. "Does Jazzy know?"

"She knows." Sam said. "She doesn't know he's here right now."

"There's something else, too." I straightened up. "I know a guy over in the Ghost Zone. He has reason to believe an...enemy of mine did something to...cause my...you know." I stammered.

"How do you mean, son?" Dad frowned.

"I have a friend who understands all aspects of time: past, present and future." I said nonchalantly, yet delicately. My parents weren't used to this yet, and I needed to talk to them in a way they'd understand. "He has an ability to see everything for what it truly is. And he said this enemy may have done something in the past that lead us all to this future. A future where I'm not alive."

"You mean to tell me," a dark shadow crossed over my father's face, "A _ghost_ might be responsible for...what _we_ did?"

I cringed. "It's possible. And probable. If I catch him, I will know for sure."

"But it doesn't mean this can necessarily be...fixed." Sam stepped in. "Just because we rid the world of this demon doesn't mean...it doesn't mean Danny will..." She pressed her lips in a thin line.

"It doesn't mean I'm going to be able to come back." I finished solemnly. "It doesn't mean I'll be able to change the way things are now."

My parents were quiet, processing this. Processing everything, I suppose.

Then, "You have already have changed the way things are." Dad smiled sadly.

I shook my head, "I don't see how-"

"-Honey, you've helped us in the best way anyone could've helped us during...this difficult time." My mom grabbed for my hand. "We have some closure. We know you're okay. We know you forgive us and there are no more secrets."

 _Except for the fact that I will be stuck in Purgatory for eternity._ But they'd never need to know that. "I'm glad you feel that way..." I said. "I hope things will get better for you guys."

"They will." Mom kissed my cheek and warmth flooded my veins. "This- and you- saved us."

"Our hero." My dad nodded at me, gripping my shoulder, "You did _good_ , son."

I thought I might break down again, but it passed. I had to stay strong for them, like I did for everyone else. They needed to know I was okay.

"Mrs. Fenton," Sam said then, staring at her phone. "Tuck just texted me that Jazz is ready to start pushing. She needs you!"

Mom, Dad and I all stared at each other wide-eyed.

"Grandparents." My dad huffed. "I'm not old enough to be Grandpa just yet." He crossed his arms.

I laughed, but it was more like a release of an enormous pocket of air I'd been holding since we'd entered the room.

"Let's get to it then!" Mom clapped her hands together, gesturing for the door. She stopped in front of it just as her hand touched the handle. "Danny," She turned around, fear returning to her eyes again. "You'll...you're staying for a bit, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." I smiled at her. I hadn't been called back by Clockwork yet...and I prayed he'd wait just a bit longer. "I'll be here the whole time."

Mom smiled and bowed her head graciously before exiting the room.

My parents went ahead and Sam paused in the doorway. "Maybe I'll try and find you some regular clothes to wear so you don't have to hide yourself." Sam said quietly, facing me. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the lips. "I'm proud of you, Danny."

I smiled and followed her out of the room.

As we stepped into the barren hallway, I heard the faint sound of a high-pitched beep coming from the room the boy listening to Linkin Park was in. A mad rush of doctors and nurses hurried down the hall and I made myself invisible, closing my eyes as I felt them speed past me into the kid's room. Everyone was shouting and hurrying and fear was everywhere and the empath in me needed to see if he was okay.

I hesitated before walking into his room.

The beeping sound was him flat-lining.

He was still clutching the radio in his arms when the doctors were prying it out of his hold to perform CPR.

"What happened?" A nurse shouted.

"He was fine at dinner!"

"He's coding!"

"Pupils are dilated and he's unresponsive."

"Charging up the defibrillator...Clear!"

I peered between the mass of medical professionals and felt the shock as the defibrillator rocked his body.

"Increasing voltage...CLEAR!"

Another shock; this time I jumped the same time his body did and I clutched my chest.

I wanted him to live. I didn't even know him, but I could feel everything as if I knew him, or as if he were me. His light going out, his loved ones' pain, the fear of the unknown for where his soul would end up...

Until I saw it.

They called his death.

And I saw his soul.

He sat up right out of his uninhabitable body. No one seemed to notice him except me.

He looked around in a daze, confused and terrified.

I unveiled myself to him and only him, and impulsively grabbed his arm through the bodies of the living.

"Hey." I said to him as he floated through them. "Hey, you're okay now."

He stared at me, his eyes a piercing green, as I pulled him away from the tragic scene. I noticed his soul no longer had a bandage around his head, revealing auburn hair that looked clean and healthy. His skin had more color and if I hadn't already known he was dead, I would swear he looked more alive than he did sitting in that hospital bed.

"You're Danny Phantom." He whispered, his mouth breaking into a grin. "I never thought I'd live to actually meet you..."

We both looked down at his feet that were hovering just barely above the floor. We looked back up at each other and laughed.

"Well, at least I met you." He grinned. "You're seriously my hero. You saved a whole bunch of us when there were ghosts at the mall this one time when I was just a little kid. About five years ago, it was."

"I'm sorry we're meeting under these circumstances." I patted his arm. "Maybe this was the universe's way of making up for what happened to you in there." I nodded towards what now used to be his room.

"Yeah, well...this is definitely the best 'sorry, Calvin' I've ever received." He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head at me. "Wow. I was only nine when that mall incident happened, but I knew I wanted to be just like you." He smirked sadly. "Guess I got my wish, huh?"

We stood in silence.

"You want to know the biggest secret there ever was?" I asked him. He nodded. "I was born human. I was once ordinary Danny Fenton of Amity Park."

"What?" He blinked at me, "Danny Fenton? The guy whose parents..." He looked me up and down, eyes round. " _Oh_. Wow." He shook his head. "Oh _wow_." A pause. "So...you were really a human? All this time?"

"Half-human, half-ghost. Yeah." I shrugged.

Calvin shook his head again. "You were just a regular guy with superpowers...and you used them to protect all of us."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Calvin placed his hands on the sides of my biceps. "That makes you even more of a hero." He looked off to the side then, closing his eyes. "Wow!" He laughed. "I guess that's my cue to leave."

I looked to the right and saw nothing. "Uh..." I said, perplexed, "I guess so."

"It's really beautiful isn't it?" He whispered, and I swear I saw a white light in his green irises. "Will I see you there?" He asked quietly.

I didn't have the heart to tell him no. "I have some things to take care of here still."

He drew his eyes back to mine and squeezed my arms. "Well, then...it was an honor to meet you, Danny Fenton-slash-Danny Phantom."

He faded into oblivion then, as if he were never even there

I leaned against a wall, sliding to the ground, making myself completely invisible again. I hid my face in my knees, feeling empty and alone. He went right to the place everyone wants to go. Calvin moved on while I was still here and I felt like I'd been left behind.

It was a weird feeling to cry over the loss of someone you never even knew.

But I did.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Songs for this chapter: "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse, "Over and Over" by Three Days Grace, and "One More Light" by Linkin Park

I had written a majority of this chapter prior to Chester Bennington passing away yesterday (July 20th 2017). Having some of Linkin Park's music inspire past chapters- including this one- really hits hard, so when I went back to finish this update, things felt so strange. Originally, this was supposed to end at the part with Danny's parents leaving the hospital room...but I felt like I needed to add some kind of tribute at the end.

That's why I wrote about Calvin; a part where we see Danny showing how he's still a hero to everyone, even though he's gone. That he cares if "one more light goes out." That whole section of this chapter is in honor of Chester's big heart and pained soul, and for Linkin Park and the family during this difficult time.

Love the band, love the music, love the heart and soul.

And I hope you know I love all of **you**!

On a lighter note, I hope you enjoyed this update. Can't wait to get started on the next chapter!

 _~RyJones_


	10. Pacing

**A/N:**

The next update prepared for you, and I'm back from the trip of a lifetime! Traveled to my dream destination and hiked to my hearts desire: Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. If you guys are people who love the outdoors or exploring, then this is by far the best place for it! Check it out, ogle at photos and let me know what you think.

On with the story!

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I paced the waiting room, rounding the coffee table for the fiftieth time, my knee bumping into it every time I got too close to it. I wrapped my arms around myself, the sleeves of Tucker's forest green hoodie too long and hiding my gloved hands. Now that everyone knew I was here, I didn't want to stay hidden anymore. But Danny Phantom was still world famous, so it was necessary for me to have a bit of a uniform change.

I combed through my white hair feverishly, head spinning from going in circles too much. "What's taking so long...?" I muttered aloud.

"Dude, you've got to sit down and relax." Tucker said, his eyebrow raised. He was slumped in one of the uncomfortable chairs, legs stretched out and arms crossed over his chest. Val was asleep on his shoulder. "You're giving me anxiety."

"Yeah, Danny, why don't you just sit?" Sam asked cautiously as I rounded the table again. "This whole 'having a baby' thing is a whole process, you know..."

I shook my head. "I'm good. Thanks."

The two of them were quiet again, and my father gave me a skeptical look, making me feel guilty. I didn't mean to snap; but time was such a valuable thing to me right now. Clockwork could call me home any second, or Rooks could fuck up the time-space continuum more-

"Hello, friends and family!"

-Or Vlad could just show up out of the blue.

"Vladdy!" My father jumped to his feet. "What a surprise!"

Vlad eyed me and allowed my father to embrace him. "It's your first grandchild, Jack; I wouldn't miss it." He smiled something fake, or possibly real, I couldn't tell.

My father turned to face me, eyes widening. "Oh, um, Vlad...you see-"

"Daniel's back, yes. As the Ghost Boy, no less." Vlad interrupted Dad, clapping him on the back. "I'm still researching the ghost world, and I came across his spirit recently. He had a friend of his let me know about Jasmine. Isn't that right, kid?"

"Oh." My father blinked, clearly confused and not fully believing the story, but I gave Vlad side-eye and nodded.

"Yeah Dad, I thought you'd want the support of your _very best_ friend." I narrowed my eyes at my nemesis-now-ally. "He's here for no other underlying reason whatsoever." To be honest, I had no clue why he was here at _all_.

Vlad rubbed his hands together. "Where is Madeline? The grandmother-to-be!"

I made a face. _Of course_.

"She's in with Jazzy," my father gestured to the seat beside him, taking his own, "Maddie will be thrilled that you're here, V-man!"

 _Oh yeah, just thrilled._

"Wonderful, I'll have a seat in a moment, Jack." Vlad reached a hand to me. "Daniel, a word?"

I lifted an eyebrow. "Alright...?" I glanced at Sam and Tucker, who were tense in their seats, ready to come to my aid if necessary. I almost smiled- even in death, they still had my back.

I followed Vlad out to the hall, lifting the hood over my white hair to hide myself. He found an empty room a ways down, then grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.

"Why are you in Amity Park in the middle of the night?" I crossed my arms as he semi-shut the door. "Are you really here just to see my mother?"

"No, you idiot." Vlad rolled his eyes. His face was grim. "It's Rooks. He's come. Here, to the present, and here, as in Amity Park."

My heart dropped to my stomach. "What?"

Vlad sighed. "Clockwork is just outside. He's also got that hunter ghost Skulker scanning the skies." I opened my mouth to ask why him, but Vlad put his hand up to stop me. "We all want Rooks out of the picture, Daniel. Ghosts come together when they need to. Even those who are enemies."

My shoulders sagged. "What is he doing here?" I asked quietly. "I mean, why would he bother with the present when his plan is to fuck up the past? He can be anywhere he wants. Why here?"

Vlad shrugged. "I have no idea. But we need to catch him before it's too late."

"That seems to be the general goal these days, doesn't it..." I growled.

"The fate of the entire world rests on your shoulders, Danny." Vlad waved his hand nonchalantly, opening the door to exit. "When are you going to realize it?" He gestured at me to go ahead of him. "Sometimes, you're so _thick_. This isn't the first time you've heard this."

I trudged down the hall. "Well, I was a living human being all those other times."

We reentered the waiting room and I found my father passed out in a chair, mouth agape as he snored lightly. Sam and Tuck eyed me from their seats, and I nodded at them. Vlad sat in a chair at the far end, and I continued my pacing around the coffee table. Except this time, I was pacing for a different reason.

I don't know how much longer we waited before Dean finally came out in scrubs, baggy-eyed and beaming.

"We have a boy!" Dean grinned and everyone ran up, bombarding him with questions. "She did so good, you guys. She was tough! Squeezed the hell out of my hand though. No, I didn't even pass out."

"I'm a grandpa!" My dad whooped, slapping me on the back. "How's it feel to be an uncle, son?"

"Uncle?" Dean moved Tucker out of his line of sight, his eyes widening as he saw me. "Danny?!"

His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the linoleum floor.

So much for not passing out.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

By the time Dean came to, my mom had already come out to drag my father in to see their firstborn's firstborn. I took the time to sit Dean down and explain my situation as I waited patiently to see my nephew.

"I just don't believe this." Dean wiped sweat from his forehead. "Jazz tried to tell me but I thought it was just her 'pregnancy-brain' talking. I even sat her down for one of my 'therapy talks'." His eyes locked on mine. "I feel like such a _jackass_."

I waved my hand. "You couldn't have known. It's all complicated, really. I didn't want to drag anyone else into it." I sighed. "At least not until I talked to mom and dad first."

Dean's hands went to my shoulders. "Danny, you're my _brother_. I am willing to get dragged into your shit." He smiled, earning a laugh from me. "Come on; I want you to meet your godson."

I swallowed hard and stood, following him towards Jazz's room. I could feel that tightness in my chest that reminded me there'd was a chance I'd never really get to know this kid, be there for him, watch him grow up. Well, maybe I'd watch, but from afar and it wouldn't be the same. Nothing was the same. Nothing would ever _be_ the same, not unless I found a way to stop Rooks somehow.

And I had no idea how I'd do that.

I shook the bad thoughts from my head for now, thinking of meeting my godson. Immediately I felt negative energy fade to the back of my head, and as we rounded the corner into Jazz's room, it was all swallowed by pure joy.

Jazz was glowing, despite the sheer exhaustion clear on her face, and she was staring down at her brown-haired, turquoise-eyed baby boy. She grinned at us as we entered the room, my mother and father kissing her on the forehead as they exited. Dad touched my shoulder before he followed Mom, his mouth turned up in a sad smirk. Dean pulled me into the room, sitting me down in a chair right beside Jazz's bed.

She laughed as I leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "I was surprised to find out you'd made it," she leaned her head back on the pillow.

"I was around actually." I said, feeling my face flush at the reason I'd come back to earth in the first place. I nodded at the bundle in her arms. "Hand over my nephew."

Jazz laughed again, passing his warm little body into my cold arms. "Danny, meet Matty James Fenton-Teller."

His saucer-sized turquoise eyes rolled up to look at me, and I felt my heart clench. His cheeks were tear stained from crying at some point, and he had a head full of messy brown hair. I leaned down, grazing my nose over his face, breathing in the scent of some type of baby soap. "Hey, kid." I said, leaning back to look at him. "I'm your Uncle Danny."

"We're going to call him MJ for short." Dean said, peering over my shoulder at his kid. "Figured we liked the name Matty, 'cause of your mom. And we had to use James for you." I glanced up at him. "We would've picked that regardless of...where you were. You'll be his favorite superhero some day, too."

I smiled widely. "Thanks, you guys. Really," I nodded, trying to hold back my emotion. I cleared my throat. "Really, it means a lot."

We were quiet then, and I took the time to hold my handsome nephew- MJ, my new favorite human being- and walk around the room with him. Dean eventually began to ask me questions about my "status" as a ghost, why I was here, what was going on, and so on. I only gave him what little information I knew, minus a few details about my potential eternity spent in hell. Jazz was heavy-lidded but attentive, nodding and "ooh-ing" at all the necessary parts, watching Matty James in my arms with every movement.

I could tell she wanted him to be next to her again, so I reluctantly walked over to place him in her waiting arms. She looked up at me thankfully.

"He's good looking like his uncle." I stated boldly, earning a loud "HA!" from my sister.

"Yeah. Okay." She rolled her eyes, and as they focused back on me, they shifted to the right at the window behind me. Her smile fell as my ghost sense leaked from my lips. We heard a light tap on the glass and I whipped around.

"So _cute!_ "

Fuck.

 _It's my fucking_ _nightmare_ _._

"Danny, is that- is that-?" Dean moved protectively in front of Jazz and I stepped in front of all of them, staring Rooks dead in his beady red eyes.

Rooks phased through the window, posture straight and his expression amused. "Sorry to crash this little family gathering, but...I'm here to crash your family gathering." He chuckled, leaning around me to sneer at Jazz. "You just pop him out?"

"Stay away from us!" Jazz said bravely, clutching MJ to her.

I pushed against Rook's chest. "Get the fuck out of here. Your fight is with me, not them."

Rooks leaned against the window and laughed. "There is no 'fight' with you, Danny. I won, you lost. Now fork over the kid."

I lifted an eyebrow, my stance offensive. "What the hell could you possibly want with MJ?"

He pushed his billowing white hair out of his face. "I'm planning my future accordingly. He's going to be a part of it." He reached around my arm and I bumped it away. "Now step aside, Danny."

"Back _up!_ " I roared, leaping forward and gripping his shoulders as I phased us out of the hospital window. He growled and shoved me off of him.

"You're so goddamn _annoying_ , kid!" He flung ecto-orbs my way and I dodged. "I had you _killed_ and you're still in my way!"

"Get used to it." I blocked the window, reflecting his attack with glowing shields coming from my palms. "You'll have me following you forever. I'll never stop until your gone."

He smirked. "I will _not_ let you stop me."

I released a battle cry as I fired icicles at Rooks, large pointed daggers that rang as they sliced through the air. Rooks went intangible, laughing as he spun every which way to avoid my attacks. It was a cackle of pure evil, overjoyed and full of rage all at the same time.

"I'll kill you!" I yelled, flipping backwards over a laser shot in my direction.

"You're not the only one who wants to. Get in line." He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he multiplied by four. "You're a slave to your rage, Danny. If you just gave up, you could be free." He glanced at me, smiling. "Or, you know, as free as the Ghost Zone allows."

"No," I said, feeling pressure build in my chest as my strongest ability subconsciously built up. "If I can save everyone, it's all worth it."

"Does it hurt?" Rooks and his clones rotated around me dizzyingly. "Does it hurt to know this is where you belong? That you belong here, stuck in this endless afterlife?" He laughed, his forked tongue licking out at me. "You were half-dead already, a soul stuck in your own human body. You being the 'hero' came with a price, and now your greatest nightmare has come to life. You'll never beat me, and you'll never escape this."

My heart pounded and I opened my mouth, feeling power course through my veins. I inhaled deeply, then let out my ghostly wail, blood racing in my veins and heat flooding my entire body. Rooks cried out and his doubles snapped back into his body as he tumbled backwards, bits of his flesh peeling off of his face. It felt good to release all this anger, all this fury that had built up inside of me and I loved to see Rooks at the end of it.

It didn't take much to take a ghost out with this ability. My howl died down as I felt all my energy recede. I held my stomach and panted, trying to catch what little breath I had left. I flew over to Rooks, my body quivering, as his broken flesh healed over itself. He glared at me, his ghost sense flowing from his nostrils.

"I will never stop." I breathed, "I will always search for you. I will find you and follow you until I destroy you." I shoved him backwards. "I'm _your_ fucking nightmare."

"I'm taking the boy!" Rooks yelled and lunged at me, gripping me by the hair and making me cry out. He yanked and pulled until I went intangible and slid away from him.

"I won't let you hurt them!"

He stopped short. " _Hurt_ them?" He shook his head, rubbing his forehead. "I'm not 'hurting' anyone." He paused. "Today. I only want to take the kid with me. He _belongs_ with me. I've seen big plans for us in the future. Huge plans." He grinned and stared past me at the window, waving at my sister and Dean, who'd been watching the fight from inside.

I flew into his line of sight. "I don't understand. I can't understand any of this."

He snarled. "I can make Matty James an ally. He'll be a smart kid one day. Total brain. I'll need him." He pushed up a flap of skin on his cheek, trying to stick it back on. "Besides, I may be a murderer; I may not 'feel' as you humans do, and I may exist outside of time now..." He shook his head, grimacing, "But that doesn't mean I've forgotten where I came from."

"How-?"

"I still have your godforsaken memories." He pounded his own head with the heel of his palm. "I'll get them out eventually. I'll find a way. But it gives me a moral compass I wish I never had to start with. I can't help it."

I smiled. "Your weakness is family? Or love?" I couldn't help but laugh. "The big bad ghost man's huge plans are hindered by his own memories? Jesus. This sounds like a Disney movie."

Rooks wailed me in the face, his fist connecting with my skull. I yelped and saw stars. "Fuck you." I heard him snarl into my ear, his breath icy. "It's not hindering shit. I'm taking Matty James and I'll be on my way."

I felt him brush past me and blinked away the black spots covering my sight. I spun around, shouting, "NO!" and threw a shield up through the window and over my sister, Dean and nephew. They were trapped in my safe, impenetrable ectoplasmic bubble, clutching each other protectively.

Rooks yelled in fury, his hair like white flames as he glared at me. He flew up to my face and I felt myself sweating as I tried to focus my mind on keeping that shield up. _I don't know if I can keep it up and fight him all at the same time..._

Rooks exhaled, his body relaxing. "It's fine. Really." He looked at me slyly, flying around me. "No matter- I can go anywhere, any time." He floated backwards into the night. "I'll just travel to another time where he's not protected by you."

Suddenly, an electric net flew past me and tangled itself around Rooks. He snarled, ensnared in the rope, and he yelled as bolts shocked his evil soul.

"I don't think so, dark one."

I looked over my shoulder, seeing the robotic husk of my current frenemy. "Skulker!" I practically sighed with relief.

He lifted an eyebrow. "I didn't do this for you, whelp." He made a face. "Since your death, shit's been real fucked up in the Ghost Zone."

"Release me, Skulker!" Rooks grunted in his trap. "I'll wipe you from existence!"

"Oh shut up." Skulker yanked on the electric cord, zapping Rooks again. He lifted his brow at someone behind me, "Shall I bring him to the citadel, Time Master?"

Releasing my shield, I looked up as Clockwork floated down to us. "Take him to a cell, but do _not_ remove him from your net. He has escaped the inescapable before."

"I'll meet you there." Skulker flew off into the night, Rooks cursing and yelling the entire way.

CW turned to me. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your night, Daniel, but I'm not sorry for interrupting your night."

I shrugged. "It was only a matter of time."

We glanced at each other awkwardly, my unintentional pun sinking in, and he smiled.

"Well, we've got him at least." CW said, patting my shoulder. "Now we can take the time to figure out some kind of plan."

"I have no idea where to start." I sighed. "I'm just relieved we have a second to breathe and think about it."

"I'll alert Plasmius and have him meet us back home," he said. "Why don't you take that second to say goodbye to your family?"

I grimaced. "Yeah," I ran a hand through my hair, "Yeah, I'll...do that."

Clockwork nodded and took off.

I floated up to the window, where everyone I knew and loved was gathered around Jazz's bed. I scratched the back of my head stiffly, then phased through the window.

"You guys okay?" I asked Dean and Jazz, glancing down at MJ sound asleep in her embrace.

Jazz nodded. "I recognized that ghost Skulker captured. I can't figure out from where."

"You wouldn't remember his story." I said, seeing Sam and Tucker glance at each other. "I'll fill you in at a later date."

Dean sat down onto the bed. "He's the one who started this whole mess?"

"I think so."

"I still can't believe..." My mother whispered from the other side of the room. She was shaking her head, watching me warily. "It didn't seem real until I saw you...we watched you _fighting_ out there." She shook her head again, closing her eyes. "My son, my child having to fight for his life..."

"...With other ghosts!" My father exclaimed, eyes wide.

I shrugged, leaning my cheek into my palm. "About that...it looks like I've got some work to do. Meaning...I should probably get going."

The room fell uncomfortably silent. Then, Sam approached me, taking my hand.

"You'll be back soon though, of course." Her violet eyes locked on mine, telling me to stay confident.

I nodded, smiling down at her, then at my parents. "I'll be back soon." I pecked her on the cheek, then turned to Jazz. We embraced, Dean patting both Jazz and me on the shoulder.

I then leaned down and kissed MJ's head, "Uncle Danny will be back to see you real soon, kid. I promise."

I walked over to my parents, avoiding their gazes. I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it in fear of saying something stupid.

My father's strong hands rested on my shoulders and I looked up into his eyes. He smiled at me, the kind of smile I'm used to seeing on him that's full of hope and wonder.

"Son," he said, eyes glistening, "We're so proud of you."

That was all I needed to feel confident in what I had to do. I needed to get back to them...and I wouldn't go down without a fight.

My mom was right, even though she didn't know what she'd been right about: I really was fighting for my life.

I hugged them both, giving them each an extra squeeze in case I'd be gone a long time. They needed to know how much I loved them, just in case of anything.

I then moved to Tucker and Val, each giving them a hug, before returning to Sam. I looked into her eyes, silently telling her I loved her forever, hoping she heard me without needing to hear me. She smiled widely, placing her small, soft hand on my cheek briefly.

I surveyed the room one last time before shooting through the window and into the night sky.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

"So what do we do with him?"

Vlad, Skulker, Clockwork and I all stood in a half-circle around the door of the cell we'd tossed Rooks into.

"I'm still waiting to get paid." Skulker grumbled, rattling the cell bars to taunt Rooks. The demon- still tangled in Skulker's net- thrashed around, cursing at us.

"You'll get what you asked for, hunter." Clockwork said smoothly. "Your services are no longer needed."

Skulker glared at us, before jumping into the air. "Very well. You know where to find me." He flew through the ceiling.

"What exactly did Skulker ask for?" I asked CW skeptically, placing my hands on my hips.

Clockwork shrugged. "It doesn't matter. He'll forget about it soon enough." Vlad and I exchanged glances. CW floated up to the cell, yanking on the electric rope to drag Rooks closer across the floor.

"First things first," he said as he transformed into a child, "We have some questions for you."

"Go ahead." Rooks said through gritted teeth. "I've got nothing to hide, and you're already too late."

"You're telling the master of all time it's too late?" Clockwork whipped the rope, causing a current to rock through Rooks's body. He chuckled. "That seems a bit ironic, don't you think?"

Rooks smiled through the tiny electric bolts licking out from his blue-tinted skin. "Not when you and I are equals now."

"Equals? Ha! Don't make me laugh." CW aged forward, scratching his chin. "We'll never be considered equals on any plane."

"Oh? Is that what you think?" Rooks rose to his knees. "I've been traveling across time, across universes, parallels and all dimensions. I have changed countless moments, altered different time streams and I've already begun to succeed in building my own time stream I will have total control over." He stood shakily, leaning himself on the cell bars. "If you ask me, it sounds like you and I are both kings of time."

CW narrowed his red eyes, then slammed his hands against the door, startling Vlad and I. His usual cool, calm demeanor was washed away by Rooks's words. "We're stopping you. You've had your fun, you've played your little game. Now it's time to put you in your place."

"What have you changed?" I stepped up to Rooks, feeling my blood pressure rise at the close proximity of him. "What did you do to make sure my life was taken from me at the wrong time?"

"What is it you're trying to achieve here?" Vlad, in the form of Plasmius, stepped up behind me. I could feel the edge in his voice, the anger behind it, and it made me feel like I had more of a support system now. Vlad seemed to be someone who really wanted to help. Even though I still couldn't trust him with _any_ fiber of my being, I felt as though Vlad, Clockwork and I had finally become a team.

"So many questions, so little time." Rooks stuck his arms through the bars and leaned on them. "Where do I even begin?" He pointed at Vlad. "I like your question best, Plasmius. It's really the only one that matters."

Vlad swatted his hand away. "Get on with it then before I break your finger."

"Everywhere I've gone, every time I've entered," Rooks began, "There are things I have changed in order to get where I need to be. It's funny how even the tiniest shifts in time, the most minuscule of moments can make the most significant difference in the future." Rooks laughed and nodded at CW. "But of course, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you Clockwork?"

"Yeah, we get it. We all know that." I rolled my eyes. "You're stalling a whole lot for someone who says we have 'so little time'."

"Dramatic effect, Danny." Rooks winked at me and I almost hit him. "A good storyteller always knows how to add dramatic flair." He straightened up, appearing to tower over me. "Where was I...oh yes. All of these moments in time I've found will eventually lead to the new future, the world I was born to know and the world I once ruled as Dan Phantom. I'll finally get back the future I had lost so long ago." He bent to my level. "Except this time, you won't be there to stop me."

I violently yanked his arm through the bars, causing him to slam his face into the metal door and cry out. "That's a load of shit, Rooks!" I spat. "You expect me to believe _all_ of _this_ is so that you can be in charge of that run down, shitty world you're from again?"

Rooks wiped his nose on the back of his jumpsuit sleeve, laughing maniacally. "What? Did you think I had some grand scheme, some _mysterious_ master plan that involved ruining your life? No, Danny," he grabbed me by the "DP" logo on my chest and wrenched me up against the bars, "I just wanted to take back what you took from me. And the only way I could get it...was to get rid of you first."

I tugged myself out of his grasp, stumbling into Clockwork and Plasmius. So it really was that simple...yet, as simple as it was, it was all the more diabolical. He had owned the planet once before, and he planned to do it again all the while becoming his own time master.

And he succeeded in killing me in the process.

"So why not prevent Daniel's birth?" Vlad steadied me, trying to keep the conversation going. "Why not dispose of him before he even exists?"

"That was impossible." Rooks frowned, tugging on the limp net. "I searched long and hard for a way to prevent his existence but there was none. Danny _fucking_ Fenton- and Phantom- were always meant to be." He shrugged. "So I picked a moment, played around in it and _boom_ ; Danny Fenton was no more." Rooks smirked in my direction, red irises flaring. "Which means you're only half the person you've always been. Just another spirit doomed to an eternity in the Ghost Zone." He chuckled heartily. "Another plus side to my plan. If you think about it, I really killed two birds with one stone."

"Alright, so you've meddled with _my_ time streams," Clockwork growled, "some how murdered an innocent man without lifting a finger, and you've begun to create the world you remember being in control of. Now that we've got you here, your plans are hindered. So what happens next?"

"On the contrary, my good man." Rooks's eyes gleamed. "I have back up."

Suddenly I was pulled from behind, my arms bound at the elbows and I felt a foot kick me behind the knees. I cried out, falling to the floor at the same time as I saw CW and Vlad go down. We were being held by multiple Rooks clones, and I watched as two of them bent the bars of the cell wide open.

"It's not what you think, boys." Rooks said as the two other Rooks' untangled him from the electric net, tossing it aside. "These aren't my usual doubles." He kicked the net off his foot and stepped through the opening in his cell. "Since I've created my own timeline, there is a version of me in every single day since the day you died. Or Day Zero, as I call it." He squatted down to me as I struggled against his other forms' grasps. "Which means there are past, present and future versions of me now from all the different moments I've changed or will change soon. Like an army of me, only better because they're not just clones; they're actually me from other times."

"You'll never get away with this." Vlad said, sounding as defeated as I felt. "We'll find a way to stop you."

Rooks never once looked away from my face as he stood. "I'd love to see you try."

Then he was gone, along with all the versions of himself.

The three of us collapsed forward to the ground after being released from the tight holds.

"God _dammit!_ " I punched a hole through the floor, wispy green air from the Ghost Zone leaking up through the crack.

"I'm growing tired of his ability to escape." Clockwork stood up and brushed himself off. "I'm growing tired of his successes."

"Well, at least we know his plans." Plasmius reached for my hand to help me up and I took it deplorably.

"So?" I asked. "We could've guessed them from the very beginning. World domination. Every villains goal, right?" I said with a wave of my hand as I trudged toward the stairwell. I glided up the stairs, allowing my feet to disappear.

Vlad and CW followed me up to the main room in the citadel. Clockwork flew in front of me, eyebrows raised. "That's not all we've learned." He hustled toward his time grid. "Rooks may be manipulative and cunning, but it seems he is also daft prick."

"How so?" Vlad asked as we followed him to the machine.

CW smiled excitedly, and it was both intimidating and creepy, considering how pissed off he was half a second ago.

"He's extremely cocky for someone so stupid." He shook his head. "He just told us he created his own time stream. He just proved this by revealing different versions of himself- past, present and future." He switched the time grid on and it hummed to life. "Which means...Danny's death is part of his stream."

I narrowed my eyes as I attempted to get what CW was so excited about. "I hate to sound dimwitted, but...what does that mean?"

Clockwork stopped fidgeting with the time grid to look at Vlad and me. "It means him existing outside of time is no longer an issue," he beamed, "he has revealed to us that if we go back to the day Danny died- or Day Zero, as Rooks called it- we will be able to enter _his_ time stream, and thus bringing him back into time itself, since his will become one with our timelines."

"Time is so complicated and unbelievable." I rubbed my forehead. "So, we get him back into the general time stream. What then?"

Vlad turned to me, his eyes glowing bright as he came to a conclusion. "We can enter Day Zero and eliminate Rooks before he even has a chance to begin this endeavor of his at _all_."

I gasped, everything clicking at once. "Oh my god!" This was the most hope and best chance I had since all of this began. I rubbed my temples, pacing back and forth in front of Vlad and CW. "Okay...okay. But...wait." I stopped, looking up at the time grid. "Even though I'm seven years older than the first time I'd ever fought him, and even though I'm already dead," I heaved a sigh, "He's still impossible for me to beat. He's stronger every day, he recovers even when I give it my all. He kicked _all three_ of our asses in one go with no problem."

Vlad crossed his arms, frowning. "Daniel's right," he muttered. "Even if we find him, we'd have to catch him and destroy him, or just destroy him. And both of those options seem near impossible. None of us are _physically_ strong enough to subdue this monster, let alone defeat him."

We fell silent, all trying to think. Clockwork's tower began to chime, counting an hour that existed somewhere that wasn't here.

CW inhaled sharply, staring up at the clock's face. "I have a plan." He squeezed his maroon eyes shut. "But it is the riskiest, the craziest, and quite possibly the _worst_ plan in all of existence."

"I'm all for risks, but if it's as bad as you say..." Vlad rubbed his goatee, making a face.

Clockwork shook his head slowly. "Things will be different this time; we have knowledge and control on our side. It's a risky plan, but I think we can do it." He turned to me, concern washing over his face. "It's not a good plan...but it's the only thing we've got, kid."

I looked between him and Vlad. "I'll take anything. Anything is better than nothing."

Clockwork gripped his staff tightly, avoiding my eyes. "It's basically going to be _all_ or nothing, Danny. You'll be risking everything. There may be no coming back from this." He sighed. "I'm still blind to your future, so I can't even guarantee it will work."

"Clockwork," I grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at me. "I have _no_ other choice. Whatever it is, we can do it. We have to try." I glanced at Vlad for support, and he nodded at me reluctantly.

"I agree with Daniel." He said strongly, crossing his arms. "Better to fight for something than to have nothing at all."

Clockwork stared at me for a moment. Then, "Alright."

"What's the plan?" I released his arms and he floated past me over to his time portal.

CW stared into the glowing vortex, sliding his hand over its frame. "Rooks needs to meet his match. There's only one way for that to happen. There's only _one way_ we can get someone equally as powerful as him to wipe him from existence."

My heart wasn't beating- whether it needed to anymore or not. The room was eerily silent with anticipation, the air stale from lack of sound.

Clockwork then looked over his shoulder at us as he said, "In order to destroy him...we have to create him."

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Plot twists galore! I'm excited to share what's in store with all of you. I'm really enjoying writing this DP tale, and I love hearing what you guys think.

Song for this chapter: "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold

Thanks for sticking with it! Stay tuned for more!

 _~RyJones_


	11. Freedom

**A/N:**

Back with another chapter for you! I finished the other FF I was working on, so I'll be more focused on this one. Uploads might be sporadic - I am currently in the works of **publishing my first novel!** Things are a little crazy right now between communicating with my manager and publisher about marketing and editing and all the fun stuff that comes with being a full-time author, so bear with me. Dreams do come true, people.

Regardless, FanFiction is still my home and my favorite place to write (without having to focus heavily on perfecting the quality of my content, thank GOD for that), so I will keep going strong.

Let's get on with the chapter then!

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

It was crazy.

Too crazy.

But I was going crazy.

I was so close to losing my shit, that I would do anything— _anything_ —to get back home.

That's why, when Clockwork asked if I was willing to possibly destroy myself in order to change what happened to me Day Zero, I immediately said yes.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Daniel?" Plasmius said quietly, hesitating before resting his black-gloved hand on my shoulder.

I was sure. But I couldn't help the guilt that began settling in. I shrugged, "I don't know. It would mean taking the ghost out of _you_. It would mean removing half of who _you_ are. I don't know if I can do that to you. To anyone."

"We may need to find another way to create a darker Danny without separating Vlad from Plasmius in the process." Clockwork said, studying his time grid. "It might take a bit of time to figure out how…"

"No, Clockwork." Vlad straightened up. "We want this done right. We want someone equally as powerful as Rooks. We cannot risk finding some 'other way' to create a ruthless Danny Phantom when we don't know the consequences." He turned to me, red eyes pleading. "We know for certain we will get the results we need by doing exactly what was done seven years ago. Do not let your morals sway your decision. I want to do this for you."

I shook my head. "But—"

"But nothing. Please, allow me to help you." Vlad shifted into human form. "Seeing what you've been through lately, seeing how much the world needs you…it has opened my eyes in a way. And I may be going to Hell, but at least I can be atoned for the things I've done. I owe you more than 'one'. Besides," he smirked, "if this works, and you rid the universe of Rooks, then the future and timeline he created will cease to exist. Which means, _we'll_ cease to exist. Plasmius and Vlad Masters will be one again."

I dropped my head in thanks. "I don't know what to say…"

"Well, to prevent further 'accidents' like yours from happening," Clockwork stepped between us, "at some point, I'm going to provide you both, and Danny's loved ones, with time medallions. That way, if we succeed and after this is all over, you won't forget what happened. And you won't revert having told your parents the truth about who you are."

"A time medallion?" Vlad scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "What in god's name is—"

"Don't ask." CW and I responded simultaneously.

"Alright then," Vlad glanced between us. "What will we need for this…project?"

"Primarily we'll need your ghost gauntlets." CW answered. "We'll need your lab as well, so that we can extract your ghost half and merge it with Daniel's safely." He paused. "As safe as 'safely' could possibly be."

"My gauntlets? The defective ones patented by Vladco?" Vlad shook his head. "I never perfected them. They could kill us both." I growled and he looked at me sheepishly. "Sorry. I meant me. It could kill me. Not you. That's right."

"It doesn't matter how they worked." I glared at him. "I know they did in the past because I used them on myself. And yes, the human side of me died in that time stream, but only because my ghost half that merged with yours attacked me. Not because the gauntlets were defective."

Vlad grimaced. "Still…what happens if this doesn't work? We don't have a back-up plan. This is our plan A through Z. I haven't any better ideas, but if we fail and this kills me and/or turns Daniel into a complete lunatic—"

"We can worry about that if it happens." Clockwork held his hands up. "I have a feeling this is the plan that succeeds."

"I'm ready to get started now." I rubbed my hands together. "Where do you have those gauntlets hidden, Plasmius?"

"Hold on a minute, kid." Clockwork flew between us as he aged into a child. "We can't just 'get started', we can't jump into merging your ghost half with Vlad's. You lost your mind and turned completely evil the last time. You turned into your worst enemy, as well as the monster that took over the entire Ghost Zone and planet Earth with little to no effort."

"But in that world, I was in a different mindset." I argued. "I was depressed. Everyone I ever loved or cared about was dead, blown to pieces in that freak accident at the Nasty Burger. I wanted to die and I wanted the pain to stop and I wanted to get the ghost side of me out. This time it's totally different. _I'm_ different."

"But can you handle the evil that will become half of you?" CW asked. "Just because your head is clear, doesn't mean Plasmius's is."

"I'm in a better mindset lately. Less diabolical, more…benevolent." Vlad smiled proudly. "Perhaps this will help create an all-powerful ghost just _good_ enough to defeat his own match."

"Perhaps we won't be able to merge ghosts because we won't be able to fit your enormous ego." I grumbled.

"Maybe you're right," Clockwork responded to Vlad as he smacked the back of my head. "But we still need to take precautionary measures, so that when your souls merge, the new Danny won't try and escape. We'll keep Vlad awake during the procedure as well so he can guide us in using his equipment."

"We'll need help." Vlad said, "My hologram assistant can only work computers and machines. She can't help with health and safety measures."

"You mean your hologram version of my _mom_?" I grimaced. "I'd rather not see her in action."

"What about your actual mother?" CW asked, turning into a middle-aged spirit. "Would she be able to help?"

I hadn't thought about her, or either of my parents actually. Now that they knew my secret, they could help me come back with the knowledge they had from researching ghosts all their lives. Well, my mom could. My dad…maybe not.

My shoulders lifted. "We could ask her. But that would mean exposing Vlad as Plasmius. She would know his secret, too."

Vlad patted his chest. "That's a fate I'm willing to accept. Let's be honest…your mother already hates me—she couldn't _possibly_ hate me more. Besides, I won't be Plasmius anymore after he and you become one in the same."

"You might be if we succeed in reversing the effects Rooks had on time." Clockwork said. "But, it matters not. You will always be you Vlad. No matter what is or isn't inside you."

"I don't know whether or not to take that as an insult or compliment." Vlad heavily rolls his eyes. He gestured to CW's portal. "Without sounding like a pretentious fuck…shall we head to my manor in Wisconsin?"

Clockwork waved his hand over the portal as it focused on Vlad's enormous house (one of the many homes he owned within the county). The three of us leapt into it, one by one, heading toward the unknown.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

"The private jet should be arriving any minute."

Vlad sipped from his glass of whiskey ever so slowly, crossing his one leg over the other as he leaned against one of the lab tables. I stared into my own glass, swirling the syrup-colored liquor around clockwise before downing it in one gulp.

"I'm glad she's willing to help." Clockwork said as he hovered over the gauntlets, his back facing us. "You didn't mention this plan could bring Danny back from the dead, did you?"

"Heavens no." Vlad's voice echoed into his drink. "God forbid this doesn't bring him back…I'd rather not be the reason for his mother's second heartbreak."

"Good." I placed my empty glass onto Vlad's desk. "Although, I'm not sure how she'll handle watching the ghost of her son transform into something…else."

"She'll be fine," Vlad waved his hand nonchalantly, "She's tough. The strongest woman I've ever known. She'll make it through."

"I'm holding you to that."

Vlad hopped onto the table, adjusting his suit jacket. "Please, Daniel. You know she's my main concern. I'll be sure to keep her safe in all this. You have my word."

"My father is your responsibility too." I approached him, straightening up and looking at him squarely. "Treat him as you would my mother."

Vlad's face contorted with disgust. "Not _entirely_ as I would your mother."

"The gauntlets are charged and ready for use." Clockwork interrupted, holding them up with his hands inserted into them. They looked ridiculous, like large, metal-clawed gloves on his hands. "This will probably be painful."

"Wonderful." I sighed, dragging my hands down my face. I turned to Vlad, "And you're absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"For the good of the world," Vlad nodded, gazing at his own palms, "And for the future of my soul…I am sure."

"Here's the plan." Clockwork clanged the gauntlets together, creating violet sparks. "I will detach Vlad from Plasmius. Before his spirit becomes too aware of what's happening, Danny will overshadow him." CW placed the gauntlets onto a lab table separate from the one Vlad was sitting on. "Maddie will act as a medic, tending to Vlad's human half, while I attempt to contain and control Danny. We've got some ectoplasmic tranquilizer darts handy—" he gestured to where the darts rested on the largest computer across the room, "—locked and loaded in a pistol for Mrs. Fenton to use on Danny if she has to. I can freeze you in time if necessary but…" His red eyes glowed in my direction. "I don't think it will be necessary."

"Separate Vlad and Plasmius," I nodded, "I overshadow his ghost. Then we pray I don't kill anyone. Got it."

"This _will_ work, Daniel." Vlad rested his palm on my shoulder.

Holographic Maddie Fenton suddenly appeared beside us. Her eyes were lifeless and her smile was flat as she spoke.

"Your guest has arrived, dumpling!" She said sweetly to Vlad, whose pale face burned red.

"See her in." He mumbled in embarrassment, and the hologram faded away.

I inhaled shakily, hugging myself. I felt cold. But not from the temperature around me…it was coming from inside. Sort of like the feeling just before I'd discovered my cryokinesis.

"If something goes wrong," I whispered to CW and Vlad, "if anything happens that shouldn't…don't let me out of here."

CW gripped both of my shoulders then, spinning me to face him. "You are stronger than that, Danny. You can do this. You can do anything. Remember that."

My head hung and I stared down at my booted feet.

The sound of my mother's voice carried down the basement stairs and I looked up swiftly.

"I said I don't need you to take my bags!" She growled as she appeared at the door. "I DON'T HAVE ANY BAGS!"

"Sugar Plum says to cater to your every need, Ms. Maddie!" Hologram Maddie floated down behind her.

Mom yanked her jumpsuit hood off her head and tugged her goggles down, glaring in Vlad's direction.

"Call off your creepy clone, you idiot!"

Vlad smiled nervously, "That'll be all, Madeline." He said to the hologram through clenched teeth. She dissipated, leaving only the real Maddie to the rest of us.

She found me in the mess of laboratory equipment and her face softened. I hurried over to her, taking her into my arms, the cold feelings inside me fading.

"Mom," I breathed.

"Hi hon." She kissed my cheek. "How are you holding up?"

I pulled back to look down at her and smiled my best smile. "I'm great. Ready to kick some ghost-ass."

She nodded and looked around me at Clockwork. "Clockwork, is it?" She asked, and I stepped aside so she could speak with him.

He nodded, extending an elderly hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fenton."

She hesitated, staring incredulously at the blue hue of his skin, before finally taking his hand firmly. "With all do respect, I expected someone a bit...younger going up against the most evil spirit in the universe."

CW turned middle-aged and smiled. "How's this?"

Mom gasped and then chuckled quietly. "I stand corrected." She placed her hands on her hips. "So, let's get this going then. My boy's got a world to save." She turned to Vlad. "I'll need medical equipment if you've got it; an IV drip, a defibrillator, some gauze and a whole lot of painkillers."

Vlad swallowed hard, then snapped his fingers. Several Holo-Maddie clones began to bustle around, acquiring the equipment Mom requested.

I paced the room as she prepped Vlad as if he were about to undergo surgery. She and Clockwork had been talking nonstop—he was asking her all these questions about her research throughout the years, and she asked him about the ghost world. He told her our plan in great detail—minus the possibility of me coming back to life as well as the possibility of me being damned to the Ghost Zone for eternity. I tried not to think about that, though.

"Are you listening, Daniel James?"

My head snapped up at my mother's scolding tone. "Huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Even in death you have the attention span of a goldfish. I asked if you were ready."

"Oh," I scratched the back of my head, white hair falling into my eyes lazily. I avoided her gaze. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"And you Vlad?" She said to my frenemy, who was currently lying back on the lab table hooked up to all kinds of machines. I could swear her voice sounded sympathetic, and I saw what looked like concern displayed on her face. "We'll try to make this quick."

"Ready." Vlad gave her a thumbs up.

I walked over to his side, stretching my hand out. He glanced at it, then at me, then clapped his palm into mine.

"Hey, V-man." I smiled at him, trying to remove the fear I could see behind his blue eyes. I felt a pang of guilt that he was giving up half his identity, half of who he was, to save the world. And me. "I want to...uh...thank you. For everything. For helping me all this time."

"I said I owed you one, didn't I?" He smirked. "No need for thanks."

"Well, consider us even, then."

"I still can't believe all these years you were half ghost, Vlad Masters." My mom shook her head at him. "Knowing now what my son had gone through—and for a shorter span than you had—I can almost understand why you were such a...such a..."

"An asshole?" Vlad laughed, and I gave his hand a squeeze before letting it fall to his side.

"I was thinking more along the lines of "creepy prick'," she smiled sweetly down at him, "But you hit the nail on the head."

"It's time." Clockwork said then, "We have a small window. I can see a future forming as a result of this." He waved me over to the lab table beside Vlad. "Quickly now."

I hopped up onto the table next to the gauntlets, my legs swinging anxiously. My ghostly heartbeat was thudding heavily in all parts of me; my neck, my chest, my head, my hands. I was terrified of what would happen. To all of us. _What if I kill Vlad and Mom? What if I don't come back from this, or come back at all? What if it worked but I can't beat Rooks and this was all for nothing—_

Clockwork placed his hands on my shaking ones, bringing me out of my thoughts. He looked up at me, leaning close.

"You get through this." He muttered almost inaudibly. "You already have."

I released a whoosh of air, hoping he wasn't lying to me. I handed him the gauntlets, one by one, helping him slide his hands into their massive chambers.

"Is Vlad good and ready?" CW looked over his shoulder at Mom, who gave him two thumbs up.

"All doped up and ready to go!" She said, checking his vitals on the heart monitor she'd hooked up to him. She slid an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. "Let's do this."

Clockwork immediately charged up the ghost gauntlets, purple electric bolts zapping out from it as if it were some crazy experimental lightning. He flew at Vlad, hovering above his drugged-up self.

"On three." Clockwork said to both him and Mom. He paused a moment. Then, "THREE!"

He thrust the gauntlets into Vlad's torso, causing him to twitch and scream into his mask. I shielded my eyes from the blinding violet glow, seeing my mother backing up against the wall and sliding her goggles back over her eyes. Clockwork cried out, shaking and struggling to pull Vlad's ghostly half out from within his core. He aged backwards and forwards and back again, before finally, Plasmius was free of Vlad Masters.

CW held Plasmius over his head, the claws deep in his see-through gut. Plasmius's red eyes were wide and fearful, uncertainty overwhelming his face as he surveyed the area around him. His eyes locked on me then, his brows lowering, and he bared his teeth.

"Hurry Danny!" CW shouted at me, "Do it now!"

I leapt into the air, panting and seeing spots. I momentarily panicked as I realized this was it; there was no turning back now.

 _I can do this._

"NOW, DANNY!"

I flew straight and fast at Vlad's ghost, just as he shoved the gauntlets and Clockwork aside. I braced myself for impact, feeling my body tingle as I prepared to overshadow Plasmius.

Rather than physically entering his ghost, I felt him phase through me, us phase together, fusing as one being. At first, it felt like any other time I'd over shadowed anyone.

Until I realized how loudly I was screaming.

My face, my arms, my legs were on fire. I was cracking apart, inside, outside. My brain was melting into mush, pieces of me flaking like snow or ash or dying leaves. I was liquid on the floor, acid sizzling through the linoleum, through the dirt and the Earth until I was in the planet's hot core, burning. I couldn't see; all there was was this red hot, white hot, blue hot, black. Red, white, blue, black. My screams. My hands on my face, my searing face, tugging at my skin, sliding down my cheeks over and over again.

At that point, I'd take damnation over this agony.

After what seemed like years...red, white, blue...then black.

Only black.

No pain, no sounds of my screaming voice. No fire or Earth's core. No colors or ash.

Nothing.

Except...a voice.

 _ **Do you have any idea what you've done?**_

It was a whisper that was not my own...but it sounded like me. My voice, only...warped. Twisted.

Menacing.

 _It's just my subconscious. I'm just confused. I'm okay. Where am I? It's so dark..._

 _ **Look what you've done to us.**_

I heard myself moan aloud. I felt something cold press to my forehead.

 _Please stop._

 _ **Look what you've done to us. Open your goddamn eyes.**_

 _It hurts too much._ I groaned again _. What are you? Are you Plasmius?_ I could hear voices faint in the distance that belonged outside of my head.

 _ **I'm you.**_ The voice in my mind hissed. _**I've always been you.**_

 _You're just Plasmius. You're just part of Vlad._

 _ **No**_. The voice said inaudibly. _**I am half of who you are now. I am only the essence that was inside Vlad that created Plasmius.**_ He laughed humorlessly. _ **But I have changed. I have turned. You turned me into you. I am you. You are me. We're one in the same.**_

"Stop." I croaked, feeling my lips crack. "Stop."

"Danny? Sweetheart, you're alright." I heard the distant voices grow. _Mom?_ She sounded scared. "You're alright, just wake up now."

 ** _Don't be afraid._** The voice laughed again. _**You and I...we**_ ** _are free now._**

My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright. It was too bright, wherever I was, and I covered my eyes with my hands.

"Danny! Oh, thank goodness!" I felt a pair of hands touch mine, pulling my fingers away from my eyes.

I blinked, trying to adjust to the brightness of the room.

"Oh, let me move this." I heard Clockwork say at my left, and I heard a squeaking sound just before the brightness faded away. "Better?"

My eyes focused on Mom and CW's faces in front of me. I glanced up at where the brightness had been, and saw that CW had moved the operating light that was hanging from the ceiling overhead. I rubbed my eyes slowly, feeling each of my limbs move in response to waking up from the hell I had just traveled through. I wiggled my fingers and toes, trying to get the sensation back into them.

"What..." I rasped. I cleared my throat and held my spinning head. "What the hell happened?"

"It worked." CW said, and he and Mom glanced at one another. "You're still Danny Phantom. At least on the outside." He stepped closer to me, touching my shoulder. "How are you feeling _inside_?"

 _ **So alive. At last. Free, at long last, we are free.**_ Whispers bounced off the inside of my skull.

"I, uh..." I hesitated, choosing my next words carefully. I felt...strange. I felt different. But not in a bad way. Far from bad. In fact... "I feel pretty good, actually." I ran a hand through my hair.

CW and Mom looked at each other again, making me feel uneasy.

"Do I look okay? Normal?" I inquired, wanting the silence to stop being so loud.

 ** _We feel good. I feel good, don't you? You did a good things for us._**

I shrugged in response to my inner thoughts.

"You look like yourself, honey. Like the you I know and love." Mom responded, but I noticed there were tears dried on her cheeks. I moved to touch them and she flinched away.

"Mom," I asked warily, my eyes flickering to CW, who was looking everywhere but at me. "Why are you crying? You guys, what's going on?"

 ** _You were a little rowdy._**

 _Rowdy?_

 _ **You like rowdy though. I know you do. You like to get a little rough. It's okay.**_

Clockwork snaked his hand around my wrist. He held it tightly, as if he were afraid I'd run from him. Or fly away.

"Vlad...didn't make it through the procedure." He said quietly.

My jaw dropped. "W-what? _What?_ "

"It's okay, Danny." Mom tried to smile, but it looked more glum than she'd intended. "Vlad knew what he was getting into. He knew the risks—"

"What? What happened? How could...what?" I felt sick. I looked to the right over at Vlad's table, seeing a body-shaped lump beneath a large tarp. Not a white sheet, like when people usually died...a blue tarp, like the kind you cover your car in during a snow storm.

Mom blocked my line of sight, stepping into view before I could see anymore. "Don't worry about that now, son. He risked his life to save the world, and to save your soul. He knew what he was doing. We can't undo what's been done. You have a mission. We've got to keep going. I will take care of Vlad—"

"But _what happened?_ " I exclaimed, yanking my wrist from CW's. " _I_ survived this procedure. _I_ lived through it in another time period. Why didn't he?"

CW tried to grab my wrists again. "It's not that simple Danny—"

"Answer me!" I growled, feeling my face flush with heat. CW and my mother backed away from me, almost fearfully. I took a deep breath, sliding myself off of the table. "Why do you both keep avoiding my question?"

 ** _You know why._**

 _I don't._

 ** _Yes._**

I glanced over at the blue tarp covering dead Vlad Masters. Suddenly, I felt like maybe I really _did_ know what happened, and why they were avoiding my questions.

Before they could stop me, I pulled the tarp off Vlad's body and let it fall to the floor.

My hands flew to my mouth, my eyes watered in shock. I doubled-over, gripping my abdomen and the lab table for support.

Vlad wasn't just dead.

He was _mangled_.

Blood, guts, limbs hanging by threads, eyes gray with death.

Vlad, whom I thought I hated but actually felt some compassion for...

...Destroyed.

"No." I covered my mouth again. "No, no, no, no..."

 _ **You did this.**_

 _We did this?_

 _ **No.**_ My inner voice laughed heartily. **We** **_didn't._** **You** ** _did this. All on your own. I didn't even need to help you._**

"No!" I responded to him out loud, "It's not true!"

 _ **Don't you remember?**_

Images suddenly flashed behind my eyelids. _Red, white, blue, black._ I could vaguely remember bits and pieces from the overshadowing, the pain, the confusion, the hallucinations...brief pictures of Vlad screaming. I could remember feeling two pairs of hands on either side of me, pulling on my biceps, dragging me off his bleeding, injured form.

And then I had broken free. And I flew back over to him.

And I had torn him apart.

 _ **You lost your shit a little.**_

 _You're a fucking monster. You're a demon._

 **You're** _ **the demon here.**_ He argued, sighing a sound of boredom, or maybe pity. _**I may be your demon, but you are also mine.**_

I collapsed to the floor, the tarp falling at my knees.

"We tried to stop you, Danny." Mom whispered from behind me.

 _ **Not hard enough, obviously.**_

"We got you into the Fenton thermos." CW said, his cloak appearing beside me as he approached. "We needed to contain you until you calmed down. It worked, though; you're okay."

 _Nothing is okay. I'm far from okay._

 _ **But you feel good. So that's okay.**_

 _I do. Somehow, I do._ I agreed, my eyes closing. _But that's_ not _okay._

"You get through this, Danny." CW squatted down to me. "I assure you; whatever you are battling in there, whatever your demons may be...you get through it."

"I..." My eyes squeezed shut and I felt anger boil up with in me. I shot up into the air, hovering above them. I glanced down at Vlad's ruined corpse, gripping the sides of my head. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" I shouted in a voice that was mine, but had a undertone to it, much like the whispers of the demon in my head.

"Danny, please!" My mom begged, gathering the tarp and quickly covering Vlad's body as if it would help me unsee what I had done. "We can help you. Remember why you did this in the first place."

I couldn't. I couldn't remember. I wasn't trying all that hard, but all I could see was Vlad dead, and red, white, blue, black. All I could hear was this ringing in my ears...an alarm, zapping in rhythm in a repetitive fashion, loud enough to make someone go insane.

I gripped the sides of my head tighter, feeling as if my head was about to explode. Over and over the sound pulsated behind my eyes. What _was_ this? Why was this internal alarm so loud in my own head?

 _ **It's okay.**_ The demon in my head said quietly, sounding less intimidating and more empathetic. _**It's a defense mechanism. You're trying to escape. Don't worry...I'm here for you.**_

My shoulders relaxed a bit and I felt my thoughts begin to settle down. I looked down at CW and Mom, who both had their hands up defensively. They were a great distance away now...I could see they were afraid. Of me.

I then noticed my mother inching ever so slowly toward the tranquilizer gun, and Clockwork aiming his staff my way.

 _They want to hurt me._

 ** _They want to hurt us._** My demon echoed quietly. _**Let's get out of here.**_

My hands slid down my face, dropping at my sides. He knew what I wanted... I wanted to get away. Even if I did remember, even if I did decide to do what I was supposed to do in the first place...I couldn't do it now. I wasn't right. I was...fucked up. I was so _fucked_ _up_ right now.

 _ **The mission can wait. Come on.**_

I took that moment to blast both of their weapons out of their hands with my ecto-laser. I then shot up like a bullet through the basement ceiling, through the multi-levels of Vlad's mansion, through the roof and into the sky. I needed to run. I needed to run away.

 _ **Maybe we don't have to go back. Ever. Maybe things will work out for us if we just keep running. We're free now.**_

As much as I thought I initially hated whatever this demon inside me was... I was starting to realize we might be on the same side. He made everything seem okay.

 _ **We are one in the same.**_

 _You've taken some of the pain away._

 ** _My intention is not to hurt you._** His voice said softly as I flew higher and higher through the clouds, passing through a Boeing plane. _**Why would I want to hurt myself?**_

"Where are we going?" I asked it aloud, wiping my eyes that had watered from the wind. I stared over the clouds at the horizon, at the setting sun in the distance, feeling almost at peace despite all the conflict inside of me. All the fear and torment and confusion that circled my brain.

 _ **We can go anywhere,**_ he said hopefully. _**We can do anything we want. What do you want to do now?**_

"Anywhere?" I asked the demon in me.

 _ **Anywhere. We can fly forever.**_

For once, I didn't feel alone in something. I always felt alone, I think. I couldn't remember. I actually couldn't remember what life was like _without_ the voice in my head. I knew this voice was whatever made Plasmius...whatever he was. Whatever _it_ was. He was an entity, not a person. Just matter, an ecto-organism; not an actual being. There was no Plasmius. Only this voice. Only me. I was Danny, but so was he. It was almost...satisfying to know this. I felt content for the first time in...in...how long? How many years had I existed? How long was I all-ghost? I shook my head, trying to find my contentment again as the gears in my head turned.

 ** _It's okay. Don't be scared. We're free now._**

"The enemy..." I whispered, trying to access a memory that had suddenly surfaced.

 _ **Don't worry about that now.**_

"Anywhere, you said?" I asked it again, licking my cracked lips. "We can go _anywhere_?"

 _ **I know what you're thinking.**_

I glanced up at the sky above me, at the atmosphere, the troposphere I was floating in. _Of course you do._ I could see the stars in space, even though it wasn't yet night.

I started to fly upwards.

Up and up I went, feeling each layer of the atmosphere push down on my head and body as I passed through them. It was getting darker, yet brighter all at the same time. I couldn't breathe—there was no oxygen up here. But I didn't need to. I could inhale and exhale and everything would keep going as if I weren't traveling at light speed into space.

I'd always wanted this...I always wanted to be an astronaut. Space and the universe were my favorite things. I never thought I'd really get to space in my lifetime.

 ** _Well, you_** **are** ** _dead._**

I almost laughed at his comment.

Suddenly...I was there.

I was in _space_.

Flying above the Earth.

It was exactly how I'd imagined it, but not exactly how I'd imagined it.

I hovered, staring down at the massive blue world beneath me. I bit my bottom lip as I smiled. I hugged myself, my arms covering my chest. I released a sob, one I felt I'd been holding for years and years and years. I was confused and disoriented and didn't understand anything that was happening. I was joyful, and I was sad, and I was lost and I was found all at the same time. I didn't know who I was anymore, yet I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

After a moment of tears, I took a shaky deep breath of nonexistent air. I gazed out into the universe, spotting something shiny.

"Is that...the International Space Station?" I asked, my voice swallowed by the open world I was flying in.

 ** _You bet your ass it is._** My demon answered. _**Let's check it out!**_

I flew at the ISS, feeling power surge through my legs that I'd never felt before. It made me move faster through space, fly quicker over the big, beautiful planet below me. As the space station grew nearer, I went invisible so that none of the astronauts within it would see me and think I was some UFO. I peered into the tiny windows, only seeing wires and white insulation.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glinting silver of the outside walls. I pressed my palms against the metal, peering into the mirror, seeing my reflection stare back at me. I looked the same... I looked like myself, just like they said. Whoever "they" were. Except...there was something different. Something slight, ever so small, a change that could easily go unnoticed.

My right eye, the iris that used to be blue...was now a vibrant, stunning gold.

In different lights that shone from the metal parts of ISS, my eye appeared hazel. Or amber, or just yellow. But up close, it was gold like the rays of the sun.

 _ **It suits you.**_

I sighed, pushing off the wall. I rotated around the station, flying towards where I thought the Cupola would be; this was the observatory module where all the astronauts could see space through big windows.

I located it and pressed my face up against the glass. No one was in the Cupola at the moment. If I were an astronaut, I'd spend all my time in here. I'd get fired for not pulling my own weight like everyone else in ISS, but it would all be worth wasting my time in that module.

 _What am I saying...I'm in space right now._ I flew away from Cupola toward nothing in particular.

 _ **It doesn't feel real.**_

 _It feels...I feel..._

 _ **Free?**_

I inhaled sharply _. Yeah...free._

I stared down at planet Earth in wonder. I couldn't remember what was weighing me down there, holding me, chaining me to the ground. I couldn't remember why I hadn't left in the first place. This was where I wanted to be. _This_ was Heaven. I was infinite here.

 ** _You're free here._**

I nodded, feeling a sad smile cross my face.

 _We_ ** _are_** _finally_ ** _free_** _._

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

If you couldn't already tell...I am a complete and total space nerd. I'm in love with space and the universe. Much like our hero DP always was!

The song for this chapter was "My Demons" by Starset.

BUT...we have a bit of a ways to go before Danny's tragic adventure ends. There are problems to be solved, enemies to defeat...selves to discover.

Hope you stick around through it all.

On to the next!

 _~RyJones_


	12. What I've Done

**A/N:**

Hey guys! Sorry for the long, LONG wait. I've been so busy with my publisher and getting my book(s) ready for launch day. I was going to provide my author social media pages in my profile, but I kind of like the idea of **keeping my identity a secret**...much like our beloved Danny Fenton. Gotta keep the mystery alive, my friends.

Anyway...

Oh boy, oh boy. Danny's really got himself in a bad situation this time...but he's dead, so can it really get any worse?

Let's find out!

* * *

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

 _Sam_

Danny has been missing for over a month.

I miss him.

Mrs. Fenton says he's done something _awful_.

I don't want to think about what she told me. I don't want to believe he could've done something so...so...

Evil.

God, I miss him...

Vlad Masters is dead.

Not just any dead. Brutally-murdered-dead.

By Danny.

By someone I adore and love with everything I am.

 _My_ Danny did this.

Don't get me wrong, Masters wasn't my favorite human on the planet. But he didn't deserve what happened to him...he didn't deserve this.

They couldn't even have a real funeral for the guy. His body was too...mangled. They cremated him.

But we all knew he was gone long before he became ash.

Oh, god, Danny...why did you do this?

Why did you merge with Plasmius when you knew how evil it made you the first time it happened?

Why did you take-off running?

Why did you leave?

I need you...now more than _ever_.

Please Danny...wherever you are...if you can hear me...

Please. Please, please, please.

Come home.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

 _Danny_

"We should go home now."

 ** _But why? We love it here._**

I shrugged, floating on my back through the stars. I rotated to the side, avoiding space debris flying past me.

"I just feel like vacation's over."

 ** _I understand,_** my demon sighed. **_Are you ready to go home after what you did to Vlad Masters?_**

I shook my head.

 ** _You need to learn how to kill on purpose, not by accident. That's how people you love get hurt._**

 _I don't want to "kill" at all._

The voice in my head cackled, causing me to jump. **_You have to. The whole point of this is to kill Rooks, is it not? Don't you want to tear him apart...how does Dad say it?..."molecule by molecule"?_**

I smirked slightly at the thought of my father. I couldn't remember his face or his name...but his voice in my head saying that phrase was clear as day. I held onto it- and other flickers of memory like this- in order to hold onto my sanity.

Which was getting harder and harder every day. Sometimes, while flying through the abyss of space, I would use my ghostly wail. I would scream and scream until my spirit was too weak and I'd pass out. I would scream, and it would be silenced by the lack of oxygen, by the lack of substance in the universe. It was like a challenge, trying to make a sound and be heard when I knew all too well that wasn't possible.

 ** _It'll only get worse as time goes on, you know._**

 _I know._

 ** _Once Rooks is gone, you'll most likely be suck in the Ghost Zone. Forever._**

 _It's okay._

 _ **Have you finally accepted your fate?**_

"No," I said aloud, spinning around and facing the direction Earth was in, miles and miles behind me. "But I've been giving it a lot of thought...It's true that forgetting what my life on Earth was like has made it easier to understand the scale what might happen to me after I kill Rooks. But I know there must be _something_ worth saving. The planet is worth saving, even if I don't come back to life." I shot forward, the stars zooming past me in streaks from the incredible speed.

 ** _That's very noble of you._** I heard both sarcasm and a smile within his deep voice. **_Get going. We've_ _got a long journey ahead of us.  
_**

I smiled, staring at my white-gloved fists straight out in front of me, guiding me home. Wherever that was.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I began to feel the heat of Earth's atmosphere as I entered the top layer. I went through the exosphere with a _pop!_ and wind blew my hair back from the speed. I didn't know where I was or where I should go, but I hoped my instincts would guide me to where I needed to be. I also wondered if maybe, hopefully, soon, my memories would sharpen.

As I descended to the Earth, slowing myself so I could hover, I could tell I was somewhere south, because it was hot and sticky out.

 ** _It's supposed to be winter, isn't it?_**

"Winter." I repeated my inner voice. _Cold_. Where I needed to go was supposed to be cold. This place wasn't it.

I flew over marsh and meadow, seeing a small alligator floating in a nearby pond. I stopped, rotating in a complete circle to observe my surroundings.

 ** _There!_** My demon hissed excitedly. **_You see that?_ **

I squinted my eyes as if it would help me see the enormous structure better. I put my hands on my hips, tilting my head, squinting harder and harder...

And suddenly my eyesight zoomed in at warp speed at the structure, just like a camera lens.

" _Gah!_ " I cried out, rubbing my eyes and startling the gator below me. I blinked rapidly until my sight returned to normal.

 _ **New spirit means new powers, my friend. Go ahead; test 'em out!**_

I blinked again, pushing my hair off my face. I stared at the mass in the distance, trying to mimic what I had just done in order to see it up close.

My vision zoomed in again, making me gasp, but I didn't blink it away.

"It's..." I said, tilting my head again, studying the shape and incredible size of the structure. "It's a...a..." _I know this...I know this...!_

 ** _Come on, you remember._**

"It's a...rocket ship?" I questioned, allowing my vision to fade out. I flew in the direction of the ship. "A rocket ship...on a launch pad?"

 ** _Bingo._**

I smiled giddily, feeling confident I'd get all my memories back soon. "That's Kennedy Space Center."

 _ **So that means we're in-**_

 _ **F** l **o** r **i** d **a**_. We both confirmed simultaneously.

 _We're headed in the right direction I think._ I turned around, facing what I thought was north. _We need to go where it's cold. North would be cold._

 ** _But where north do we need to be?_**

"I'm...not sure." I felt my shoulders slump with defeat. One step forward, two steps back.

 ** _Well, we're making progress. We'll be okay._**

 _Yeah._

 ** _And then we'll find Rooks and tear his pale flesh from his undead bones and feed it to him._**

 _Yeah- wait, no. No, no._ I blinked. _Not that last part, at least._

 _ **Fine.**_

"We'll just keep going north." I muttered. "Until something looks familiar, maybe."

 ** _Good plan, Einstein. We'll fly for years before you remember anything at this rate._**

"Just shut up." I groaned, picking up speed.

I flew for almost a full day before I remembered something else.

"The Ghost Zone!" I exclaimed, rubbing my forehead in an attempt to recall.

 ** _What about that hell hole?_**

"I can get to it from anywhere." I shot forward through the night sky. "I can travel faster that way!"

 ** _But we don't even know where we're going!_**

 _I can feel where I need to go. Just trust me._

 ** _I'd say "it's your funeral", but you're already dead._**

 _Ha, ha._

I buzzed faster and faster until it felt like my face was going to fall off, and I heard what sounded like paper tearing rip through the air. I saw a flash of green and white and in an instant, I felt myself transport in a world unlike the one I was in.

Things started feeling familiar once I inhaled the stale, cold atmosphere that was the Ghost Zone. I recognized places I've been- parts of the ghost world I'd traveled for years flashing through my head, sets of memories as if I had a perfect map laid out before me. I wasn't sure _why_ I recognized them exactly. I still couldn't really remember my life before I merged with this other soul, Plasmius. I couldn't even remember who Plasmius was before _he_ was _me_.

All I knew was that I had once been alive, and that there were humans that loved me. I knew that I had killed Vlad Masters, whose face was a blur of color in my memories. And I remembered there was Rooks, and that in order to fix everything, I need him wiped from existence.

I sighed loudly, following my memories toward a towering citadel looming in the distance, an enormous ticking clock adorning the highest point. _Maybe whoever lives there can help me._

 ** _God, you're so confused._**

I lowered myself through the roof of the citadel, hovering toward the floor and allowing my booted feet to gently touch down. I turned around in a circle, surveying the all-too familiar surroundings.

"H-Hello?" I called hoarsely, my voice bouncing off the walls. "Hello?"

I closed my eyes, searching for who this place belonged to. Someone that always helps me.

"Well, I'll be damned."

I gasped at the sound of his voice, and spun around to see a child-sized ghost floating into the room. His skin was tinted blue, eyes red as blood, and he wore a deep purple-colored cloak with a hood. He held a strange looking staff in his left hand, something I imagined could be used as a weapon against me.

I recovered quickly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I know you." I stated, but it came out sounding like a question.

"And I you." The ghost smirked, than transformed into a spirit that appeared middle-aged. My hands dropped in surprise and I took a hesitant step backwards.

 _He seems familiar_ , I thought, _but he could be an enemy_.

 _ **Okay,**_ my demon chuckled, _**you're**_ **really** _ **confused.**_

"Are you a friend?" I asked the ghost, my hands tingling in preparation to fight if it came down to it.

The spirit frowned then. "You don't recognize me?" He floated slowly over to me. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"No. Sorry." I relaxed my shoulders. "I could really use some help."

The ghost laughed humorlessly, his pupil-less eyes locking on mine. "Oh, boy." He moved close to me, his fingers rising in front of my face. His thumb went to graze beneath my right eye- my gold eye- but I jerked back, away from his touch.

He grimaced, clutching his staff in both hands. "You've changed more than I had anticipated."

I touched the spot beneath my eye. " _You_ did this to me?"

"No," the ghost said, huffing a sound of annoyance. He moved to the far end of the room where a swirling green vortex- a portal of some kind- stood in place. "I'm Clockwork. You're Danny Phantom. You were human once- Danny _Fenton_ \- and then you died." His hand waved over the portal and he gestured for me to come to him.

I waited a brief second before heading over. I still wasn't sure I could trust this spirit- Clockwork.

 ** _He's the only lead we've got._**

Clockwork touched my shoulder gently, guiding me near the portal. Images flooded the screen, colors and people and quiet voices that blended together.

"Your death was a mistake." Clockwork said, and my eyes began to flutter as my brain began to feel discombobulated with images that made no sense to me. "So we figured out an old enemy of ours was behind it. We needed a way to beat him...so you merged your ghost with another's."

I blinked, trying to tear my eyes from the images that began to pick up speed, but finding that I couldn't. "Why on earth would I-"

Suddenly, Clockwork's hand was strong on the back of my head as he violently shoved my face into the swirling, deranged colorful mess, and I felt my mind become unhinged.

It was if I was dunked into an ocean of glacial ice, my face stinging violently, prickling with pain as the darkest part of me awakened. Madness crept through my blood, a crazed sensation flying through me as recollection started to attack. Hot, blistering memories began to pour back into my brain like a dam cracking apart and flooding everything in its path. Places I've been and had yet to go, people I've met and had yet to meet, pasts and futures that existed with me inside them wracked my brain, and I felt myself screaming at the chaos coming at me from all sides.

And then... _she_ was there.

I _knew_ her, her face, her body, her voice. Her violet irises, her jet black hair, the sass in her smile every time she looked my way. I knew her.

I knew her name. "Sam," I called to her, but no sound came out and the images changed to other memories.

Once I thought I couldn't handle any more torment, the flying colors stopped on a single, clear memory, crystalline as if it were actually happening right in this very moment.

It was the day I first transformed into Danny Phantom, the ghost boy, hero of Amity Park.

"Danny."

I opened my eyes.

And I remembered _everything_.

"Oh," I said hoarsely, registering the sound of my own name that passed through Clockwork's lips. "Oh...god."

It was all coming back to me. Everything that lead up to this very moment. It had been a faint memory, almost like a dream. Or a nightmare. But now, it was all too real.

"Stay calm, Danny," Clockwork reached for my arm, "Have a seat, you need to take a breath before-"

"What... _what have I done?_ " I cried out, smacking the sides of my head as I collapsed to my knees. "Oh god, oh god, oh god..."

"Danny, please, let's go sit-"

 _Vlad's blood. Vlad's destroyed body, his blood on my hands, his innards on display in front of my poor, fearful mother..._

I began to sob. I bent forward, clutching my stomach as my forehead touched the cool tile floor. Like a child weeping for his mother, I cried. I cried for what I'd done to Vlad. What I'd done to myself. I cried for my mother having to see her son brutally murder another person.

I would never be the same.

 ** _I'm so sorry._**

CW's hands were on my back, petting softly as I covered my face in my hands.

"Hush now, boy," He murmured in a soothing voice, "No more tears. You followed through with the plan and merged with Plasmius. Yes, it came with a price. But there is always a price when it comes to winning war, is there not?"

I wiped my swollen eyes and slowly sat up. "We haven't won anything. I _murdered_ Vlad Masters." I was afraid to ask my next question. "Is..." I started, "Is he...here? In the Ghost Zone?"

Clockwork's expression was grim and his red eyes darted away. "I'm afraid not. Your soul _absorbed_ his. There's nothing left of him. There's no spirit to set free."

I felt sick. Though I'd disliked the man and he was practically my archenemy for my entire halfa-existence, he still helped me in my time in need. There was good in him, somewhere.

And now I had robbed him of the only chance he had at freedom. The only chance he had to redeem himself and get to a better place.

A better place that- now that I'd merged with an evil half-spirit- I would never see.

"This was all for nothing." I quivered and shook, as if I were cold but I knew I wasn't. "I want to die. _.._ I want to _go_ now."

Clockwork smiled sadly. "You are dead...but as for being able to go..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry I cannot grant you that wish. I wish I could send you onward, believe me. You've been enough trouble as is."

He was trying to lighten the mood, but it was impossible.

"Think of it this way," CW said, gripping my biceps and forcing me to stand, "if you succeed in destroying Rooks, you will potentially undo everything that he has done to get you here. You may be able to return home, alive and well, and bring back Vlad Masters in the process."

 ** _Stop pitying yourself and let's go._**

I nodded, dragging my forearm along my face to wipe the remaining tears. "And if I fail?"

CW shrugged. "Then you and your inner Plasmius can live with me for eternity. As long as you don't annoy me."

I nodded again, rolling my shoulders. I needed to get ahold of myself and keep moving forward. Because that was the only direction I could head in. Other than whenever I needed to time travel into the past, that is.

 _We are brave._

 ** _YOU are brave._**

"What's the plan?" I asked CW.

"We travel to the day you died," he responded, leaning on his staff as he aged into an elderly ghost, "Day Zero, Rooks called it. We find Rooks before he changes...whatever he changed in order to get you killed."

"I need to say goodbye to everyone," I turned toward the glowing portal screen and I could feel CW's eyes on me. "I want to say goodbye in case...in case I can't come back. Or- worse, I guess- Rooks ends up wiping me from existence."

Clockwork crossed his arms. "You may do as you wish, but you need to keep an eye on time. The longer we stay in this hellish present that was never meant to be, the more likely it will remain the permanent present."

"I will." I turned back to him. "I can hear him, you know... Plasmius. In my head."

Clockwork smiled as if he had a secret, as if he already knew this. "What does he tell you?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "He is definitely the very essence of evil, but...he's something else, too. He talks to me like a physical conscience. He tries to help me. He got me back here."

Clockwork's smile widened and he wrapped his cloak around himself. "Well then. It seems there was always some good in Plasmius after all-"

A sudden explosion from the wall behind me deafened us both, swallowing Clockwork's words in its roar. We both hit the floor as pieces of the citadel rained down upon us, and we went intangible to avoid getting hit. Smoke enveloped us and I slowly picked up my head, wiping the debris from my snowy white hair. My ears were ringing loudly.

As the sounds from the crash dissipated I lifted my head and looked around. The smoke began to clear and I stood, brushing myself off before proceeding to help CW up as well. We looked toward the hole in the wall, and I saw the shape of something large. We could hear the faint pounding of rock music.

The rest of the smoke went away, and I recognized the massive shape as a vehicle...and not just any vehicle...

"Is that..." I squinted, watching as its door lifted to reveal the people inside, "is that the Specter Speeder?"

Rock music came blasting from the inside, and I watched in awe as Tucker, Val, and my brother-in-law Dean came hopping out of it.

"There you are!" Tucker said as he approached, waving his beanie at me accusingly, "We've been looking _everywhere_ for you!"

I peered around him at Valerie, who was wearing her red ghost hunting jumpsuit without the mask, as she typed in coordinates into the holographic map on her arm. Dean was gaping, jaw slack, spinning around in awe as he surveyed his surroundings.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE IN THE GHOST REALM!" He shouted, his voice echoing off the citadel walls. What remained of them, that is.

Tucker's eyes looked to the ceiling and he shook is head slowly. "It's the Ghost _Zone_ , Dean. _Zone_. Or Ghost World. Not 'Realm'. This isn't Elder Scrolls."

Dean didn't even bother to look his way. "What's Elder Scrolls?"

Tuck dragged a hand down his face in agitation, then reached for my shoulder and brought me close as he stepped up to Clockwork.

"Sorry about him; he's new at the whole 'ghost hunting' thing," he said lowly, rolling his eyes.

Clockwork growled, a rumble low in his throat, as he glared at my best friend. "I'm not worried about him. Look at my fortress!"

I glanced over my shoulder, assessing the damage. It was bad. Clockwork was fuming.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked Tucker while CW stormed over to the damaged wall. "How the hell did you even find me?"

"We've been traveling the GZ searching all over for you, man." He patted my back, "You're mom has been so worried about you. What happened to your eye?" Tuck asked then, leaning close to inspect my new golden iris.

I shifted my gaze to my boots. "I did something bad, Tuck."

"You killed Vlad Masters and ate his soul like the whack job you are. I know." Tucker's arms were around me then and he squeezed me in the tightest bear hug. "Mrs. Fenton told me what happened."

I returned the hug, quietly sighing as I tried to push away the memory of what I'd done.

Tucker released me. "I'm glad we finally found you. You need to come back with us. Now."

"Why?" I asked quizzically. "I mean, I was planning to come back and..." I paused. "Is everything okay?"

"Define 'okay'..." Valerie grumbled, kicking a piece of debris out of her way as she paced around the room.

Tucker gave her a scolding look before his eyes flickered to mine. "Everything is _fine_. You just need to come back and...check in with everyone."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.

 ** _He's hiding something._**

"I was just sending Daniel back anyway." Clockwork grunted, shifting his weight beneath a large piece of wall as he lifted it. "He needs to do a little reconnaissance for me. Go."

I glanced at him and we locked eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes. Go. But...hold on a moment." He dropped the giant wall piece and it banged to the floor. "Let me just grab something..." He floated over to a cupboard on the far wall by the portal.

"Go on ahead," I told Tucker, pushing him toward the Specter Speeder. "I'll be there in a second."

He nodded, then reluctantly went to grab shell-shocked Dean and drag him back into the vehicle. Valerie followed them, still gazing into her map, mumbling about how she wanted to be able to find "this place" again later. She stepped up the into the Speeder, pausing on the top step. She looked over at me, smiled softly, and disappeared inside.

I sighed and went over to CW, who was rummaging through a bucket inside the cupboard.

"What are you searching for?" I asked.

"These are no good..." He muttered an answer without looking up at me. "Older models...ah! Here are the good ones." He lifted a time medallion, but it didn't look like the one I was used to wearing. This one was a shorter chain and the medallion itself was the size of a quarter. He handed me one, then returned to his bucket. "You will need it if you run into trouble. Also..." He pulled out five more of the same, newer model medallion. "One for each of your friends."

"Explain to me again why they would need these?" I scrunched up my face as I took them.

"Remember what I told you the other day about making sure the past doesn't repeat itself?" Clockwork shut the cupboard doors and faced me, aging backwards, "When we go to Day Zero, you will beat Rooks. When you do, we know three things could happen: everything will right itself; your soul will be set free; or you will remain a prisoner of the Ghost Zone."

"Thanks, I needed that reminder."

"But you have a choice here," CW continued, ignoring my remark, "And I think you should choose wisely. These events that have transpired over time since your death...they've created a new foundation for you. They have taught you things. They have shaped you, changed you, made you see things from multiple perspectives. And though they are hard to think about, they are memories. _Your_ memories. Your choices. And you will want to go forward however you will and remember all that brought you here."

"If I don't use these," I whispered, dangling the necklaces in front of my face, "if I don't give myself one, I will forget everything that happened. Which sounds ideal, but...then I won't remember what I learned. And I'll have never told my parents the truth. I could get killed by them in some other reality."

"You never know." CW shrugged. "And you can't erase an entire life- or afterlife- you've lived, solely to make yourself feel better. Because then you will have wasted this journey you've been on."

I slipped one medallion around my neck and tucked it inside my jumpsuit. It was light, and felt cold against my bare skin.

"What about these other ones?" The five remaining medallions tinkled together as I pocketed them. "Why would my friends need them?"

"They've all learned something, too. They need to remember their struggle, their fight, and the strength they gained through this awful experience." He touched my shoulder. "You've told the goth girl you loved her. You do not wish erase that, do you?"

"Of course not." I sighed. "But...there's not enough here." I counted. "Tucker...Valerie...Dean...Jazz...and Sam. What about my parents?"

Clockwork shook his head once. "They in _no way_ need to remember this journey. They have suffered enough. Don't you agree?"

He was absolutely right. It made sense to give them to my friends, who could handle my truth and this tragic part of our lives. But my parents...they didn't need to remember the pain. They didn't need to remember how I lied to them and it got me killed. They didn't need to blame themselves anymore for what had happened to me.

"If I come back..." I whispered to CW, "If I'm alive again and everything is how it should be...the first thing I am doing is telling them the truth. They'll never have to suffer like that again. Not if I can help it."

Clockwork smiled broadly, straightening up so he towered over me.

"You've grown, kid."

The Specter Speeder revved then and Tucker lay on the horn, causing me to wince. The vehicle lifted from its hovering position near the floor, preparing for flight.

"I'd better go." I clapped CW on the shoulder. "I'll be back."

"I'll call you back if I need you. See you soon."

I jumped and flew after the Speeder as Tucker peeled out of CW's tower. I followed them through the Ghost Zone listening to my inner demon hum something tuneless in my head.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

I shared some hellos with my family in the basement of Fenton Works. Jazz shoved little MJ into my arms the moment I floated through the ghost portal, kissing my forehead and murmuring how relieved she was that I was still "here". My nephew looked different than the last time I had seen him, which worried me and I wondered how long I had been gone this time. Dad and Dean were wildly talking about what the "GZ" was like, my father grilling Dean breathless on his adventure.

Mom expressed her concerns for me by asking me if I wanted anything to eat, as she would have when I was alive. I accepted the invitation and followed her up to the kitchen, even though I hadn't eaten since before I had taken my last breath, and probably didn't need to. Luckily, Tuck saved me by telling her we had places to be and "things" to work out regarding how we'd defeat Rooks. I gave him a thankful but skeptical look as he dragged me and Val out the front door and down the steps to Valerie's car.

I wanted to fly along side them outside the car, breathe some fresh earthy air and live like a human for the duration of the ride. But I had a feeling Tucker wanted to talk, and I wanted to find out how much I had missed.

"So where are we going?" I asked from the passenger seat, glancing over my shoulder at Tucker in the backseat as Val sped us out of Amity Park.

"Sam's house." Val answered for him.

"I was surprised she didn't show up with the Ghost Hunting Brigade today." I laughed awkwardly, sinking in my seat. "She didn't come looking for me?"

Val glimpsed at Tuck in the rearview mirror, and I heard him cough.

My smile fell at their exchange. "Guys?"

"She...couldn't come." Val responded, pursing her lips.

"Why not?"

The same exchange happened between them again.

" _Guys_."

"We'll let her tell you." Tucker moved forward so that he was leaning on the compartment between the front seats.

My heart skipped. They were making me nervous. "What is it? Is she okay?"

"Just wait until we get there, man," Tucker touched my arm, "We'll be there in-"

"Just tell me!" I turned in my seat and glared at the two of them, "What are you hiding? You're freaking me out."

"She's fine," Valerie said, but her steady voice wavered a bit. "Alive and well. Just let her-"

"It's okay, Val. I'll tell him." Tucker exhaled heavily, hanging his head. He shook it, then peered up at me through his glasses. "Danny...Sam's _pregnant_."

A beat of silence passed before I spoke.

"What?" I whispered.

Tucker nodded slowly.

"W-What do you _mean_ 'pregnant'?"

Valerie rolled her eyes at me. "As in, she is _with child_ , Danny. She has a bun in the oven. She's expecting."

"But..." I couldn't wrap my mind around their words. I couldn't process them. Did Sam...did she meet someone else in the time I was away? "But...who...how did she...?"

I felt the hurt rising to my chest and into my throat. My heart was breaking, cracking apart at the thought of Sam being with someone else. I curled my hands to my chest as if it would protect me from this pain. I couldn't be mad, though...she deserved more than what I could give her. She deserved a normal life, a human partner who could give her everything I couldn't. A life...a _future_.

"Who is he?" I asked, trying to swallow the rage stewing in me.

Tucker and Val looked at each other. Tucker stared at me incredulously. "Who is _who?_ "

"The guy!" I hissed, unable to contain my anger. "The baby-daddy?"

" _You_ , you idiot!" Valerie said, releasing one hand from the steering wheel to shove my shoulder.

" _Me?_ " _Impossible._ "But...no, that's not right." _Impossible!_

 ** _Is it, though?_**

Tucker shrugged, a small smile creeping across his face. "Danny, Sam is having _your_ baby. She's pregnant with _your_ kid."

I clutched my hands tighter to my chest, and the world spun around me. I didn't know what I was feeling. Hope? Fear? Self-hatred? Love? Joy? It couldn't be possible, none of this could be...but it was. Every single one of these emotions felt foreign to me, these things I shouldn't be feeling because I wasn't a human. I shouldn't be feeling them because I was _dead_.

A dead father to an unborn child.

"Oh my god," my hands slid up my face in horror- the most prominent emotion inside me- and I gripped my hair. "What have I _done?_ "

Before anyone could stop me, I shot up through the roof of the car and flew in the direction of Sam's house. I needed to see her now. I needed to make sure she was okay.

I needed to tell her I was sorry.

 **DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP**

* * *

 **A/N:**

You guys didn't think it could get any worse for our hero, did you? Well, surprise, surprise - expect the unexpected- because Sam's expecting. Did Clockwork know? Did he see this coming? Or is this another result of the damage Rooks has done to the past to shape the new future?

Stay tuned to find out.

Songs that inspired chapter: Far From Home by Five Finger Death Punch, The Madness by Art of Anarchy, and Song #3 by Stone Sour.

Again, sorry for the erratic schedule! You haven't been forgotten and you never will be. Be patient with me and I promise you'll get your ending!

 _~RyJones_


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